[Edaily Reporter Kim Hyun-ah ] It was revealed that last year, major internet companies such as Naver, Google, Kakao, and Meta deleted or blocked approximately 141,000 instances of illegal footage, including sexually exploitative material and sexually explicit deepfake videos. The number of items deleted or blocked decreased by 22.2% compared to the previous year, and the government attributed this to the successful implementation of the companies’ preemptive distribution prevention systems.

The Korea Communications Commission (Chairman Kim Jong-cheol) released the “2025 Transparency Report on the Handling of Illegally Filmed Content” submitted by major value-added telecommunications service providers and file-sharing service providers on the 30th.

The report was required to be submitted by 83 service providers subject to preemptive action obligations—including #NAVER, Kakao(035720), Google, and Meta—as well as social media platforms, online communities, chat and dating services, live streaming platforms, search portals, and file-sharing services with annual revenue of 1 billion won or more, or a daily average of 100,000 users or more.

According to the report, last year these businesses received 185,662 reports from users and removal support agencies regarding illegal recordings, sexually explicit hoax videos, and child and adolescent sexual exploitation material, of which 140,996 were deleted or blocked.

This represents a 17.7% decrease in the number of reports and a 22.2% decrease in the number of items deleted or blocked compared to the previous year. The Korea Communications Commission explained that this was the result of the operators’ ongoing efforts to prevent distribution and the establishment of technical and administrative measures. The discrepancy between the number of reports and the number of deletions is due to factors such as duplicate reports, posts that had already been deleted, and cases that did not constitute illegal recordings.

In particular, service providers utilized technical measures, such as AI, to preemptively block the posting of over 1 million instances of illegally filmed content last year. It was also confirmed that all service providers who received corrective orders or administrative guidance last year for failing to implement technical measures have completed the required actions in accordance with their improvement plans.

Furthermore, the survey found that all service providers required to submit transparency reports have completed mandatory training for officers responsible for preventing the distribution of illegal recordings, and a significant number of providers have strengthened their efforts to prevent the distribution of digital sexual crime content by conducting in-house employee training.

Kim Jong-cheol, Chairman of the Korea Communications Commission, stated, “As digital sex crimes, such as deepfake sexual videos, become increasingly sophisticated, the role and responsibility of service providers are becoming even more critical.” He added, “Please faithfully implement relevant regulations to ensure that systems for preventing distribution in advance—not just post-hoc deletion and blocking—function effectively, and strive to create a safe online environment.”