(C) Education Week

SEOUL — A damning report by South Korea’s Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) has revealed that more than 85% of websites flagged for hosting AI-generated deepfake pornography remain accessible to the public, despite official administrative orders to block them.

According to the "Audit Report on Preparedness for the AI Era" released by the BAI on January 5, 2026, the government’s efforts to curb digital sex crimes are being severely undermined by technical glitches, administrative negligence, and the inherent limitations of current blocking methods.

Administrative Failures and "Spam" Emails The audit focused on the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC), the agency responsible for monitoring illegal content. The KCSC identifies sites containing deepfake pornography—often based on victim reports or police referrals—and requests nine major telecommunications providers to block access to specific URLs.

However, the BAI’s inspection of a 1,000-site sample from the 23,000 sites flagged in 2024 showed that 854 (85.4%) were still reachable. In a particularly glaring oversight, 173 of these sites were never even registered in the telecom providers’ blocking systems because the KCSC’s notification emails were filtered out as spam or lost due to server errors.

Negligence in Management The report further criticized the KCSC for its "lackadaisical" management. Between June 2024 and May 2025, the commission identified 7,250 instances where sites remained unblocked after a request had been issued. Rather than taking corrective action or issuing secondary demands, the agency reportedly left these cases dormant for months.

The "Whack-a-Mole" Challenge Beyond administrative errors, the audit highlighted the technical difficulty of combating deepfake distribution. Most offenders use overseas servers or encrypted protocols (HTTPS/SNI), allowing users to bypass domestic blocks with simple tools like VPNs or SNI-disabling software.

This revelation comes as South Korea grapples with a surge in deepfake-related crimes. Recent data shows that over 80% of suspects in such cases are teenagers, targeting peers and acquaintances. While the government recently toughened laws—imposing up to seven years in prison for production and three years for possession or viewing—the BAI report suggests that the "digital shield" meant to protect victims is riddled with holes.

Demand for Technological Innovation The BAI has formally notified the KCSC to overhaul its communication procedures with telecom providers to ensure 100% registration of blocked URLs. Furthermore, it has urged related ministries to develop more sophisticated identification and blocking technologies that can effectively counter proxy servers and overseas bypass methods.

"A law without enforcement is merely a suggestion," said a spokesperson from a digital rights advocacy group. "If the government cannot even ensure that a site is blocked once identified, the trauma for victims will only continue to grow."

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