Twitter Users’ Perception of Sexual Crime Towards South Korea Deepfake Crisis: A Case Study

Anya Hoh, Ghazila Ghazi

Abstract


Amidst South Korea's striking gender divide, South Korean men have utilised deepfake technology to secretly generate unconsented pornographic content of women around them. These pornographic contents were distributed to others via Telegram chatrooms, which were later discovered and labeled as the infamous South Korea Deepfake Crisis. Due to the emergence of deepfake technology, sexual crimes have been digitalised into image-based sexual abuse. To explore and understand the perceptions of Twitter users in the context of South Korea's deepfake crisis, this study aims to identify any social support through interaction on Twitter by examining the applicability of Social Cognitive Theory. To achieve the research objective, content analysis was employed to collect data on Twitter, and purposive sampling was utilised to select comments about the South Korean Deepfake Crisis. After collecting 743 comments, thematic analysis was employed to identify 3 major themes: (1) Strength in unity, (2) Expression of gratitude, and (3) Shared anger over unreliable authority. This study revealed that many users expressed perceptions through acts of informational support, emotional support, and instrumental support alongside gratitude for these actions and displayed anger towards lenient punishment against perpetrators. Furthermore, this study suggests the applicability of Social Cognitive Theory in perception formation. This study also provides insights for South Korean authorities on users' perceptions, while prompting legislatures and policymakers to act and curb deepfake sexual crimes.

 

Keywords: South Korea deepfake crisis, sexual crime, social support, deepfake, perception.

 

https://doi.org/10.17576/JKMJC-2026-4203-25


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