South Korea's National Election Commission — AI Deepfake Detection and Enforcement Ahead of the 2024 Elections

Ahead of South Korea's April 2024 legislative elections, lawmakers amended the Public Official Election Act to criminalise producing or distributing AI-generated deepfake content for campaign purposes within 90 days of polling day, with penalties of up to seven years in prison or fines of 10-50 million won.

The National Election Commission (NEC) and partner agencies aimed to detect and enforce against AI-generated deepfakes that could distort the election before voters went to the polls.

Enforcement was distributed across government: the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the National Forensic Service jointly built an AI deepfake detection and analysis model for investigators; the National Police Agency targeted websites spreading flagged content; the Ministry of Justice used digital forensics to trace distribution networks; and the Ministry of Science and ICT funded further detection and blocking technology. Major technology platforms signed voluntary pledges to combat election-related deepfakes.

The NEC identified 129 AI-generated deepfake videos and images violating election law between 29 January and 16 February 2024 alone. Independent analysis (East Asia Forum, The Diplomat) credits the coordinated legal-and-technical response with limiting deepfakes' practical impact on the election outcome.

Observers note the 90-day pre-election window leaves campaign-adjacent deepfake activity outside that window largely unaddressed, and that detection accuracy against rapidly improving generative models remains an open challenge.