#MeToo in an AI-generated deepfake sexual violence era in South Korea

South Korean women, which were at the forefront of Asia's #MeToo movement in 2018 and 2019, have started to direct their anger at artificial intelligence (AI)-generated deepfake sexual violence. According to a 2023 report, South Korea accounts for 53 % of the world's deepfake pornography. Since 2020–2021, deepfake technology has primarily been used to create and distribute pornography without consent, serving as a tool for controlling and humiliating women, violating their dignity and rights. The AI-generated sexual violence of South Korea has distinct features, for instance, the offenders aim to humiliate acquaintances through non-consensual and/or manipulated sexual content. Despite the groundwork laid by the South Korean #MeToo movements, I observe that most victims of deepfake pornography have mainly sought criminal justice rather than speaking out about their experiences as a part of digital testimony: this phenomenon can be conceptualized as a form of “Quiet Feminism” (Jung and Moon, 2024) in the era of everyday backlash against feminism. Unlike previous #MeToo movements, victims/survivors of AI-generated violence tend to withdraw from online spaces due to the fear of further violence through doxing, or the exposure of private identifiers such as name, home address, mobile phone number, workplace, and face. This doxing increases the likelihood of online and offline violence converging. Although the production and distribution of deepfake sexual content was criminalized in September 2024, the persistence of widespread deepfake sexual violence underscores the need for continued progress toward gender equality in South Korea.