Korean Election Commission charges deepfake election ad creators
The Korean election commission charged three people with creating and distributing deepfake videos and images of presidential candidates, marking the first enforcement action under laws banning such content in elections enacted in December 2023. The content targeted candidates from opposing political parties.
What happened
The Central Election Management Commission charged three YouTube channel operators with violating election law by creating and distributing deepfake content targeting 21st presidential election candidates on 29 May 2025.
The charged individuals posted 35 images of candidates in prison uniforms on internet community forums, created 10 videos featuring an AI-generated female news anchor presenting election-related content in news format on a widely-subscribed YouTube channel, and created deepfake images and videos on personal social media depicting candidates negatively.
Reported impact
The deepfake content targeted Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung and People Power Party candidate Kim Moon-soo, aiming to influence their election prospects.
Index analysis
This was the first enforcement action by the commission since deepfake-related election law provisions were enacted in December 2023.
Governance controls
The Public Official Election Act prohibits creation, editing, distribution, screening or posting of synthetic audio, images or video created using AI technology for election purposes from 90 days before an election through election day, with penalties of up to seven years imprisonment or 5 million to 50 million won in fines.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.