Viral Jennie clip tests limits of South Korea’s AI deepfake laws

Severe legal threats fail to deter a wave of teenage offenders who see digital victims as nothing more than pixels

For a few seconds during Blackpink member Jennie’s headline set at Tokyo’s Summer Sonic festival last month, it looked like something had come undone.

Fans were quick to cry deepfake, dissecting the footage frame by frame for signs of possible AI manipulation and calling for it to be taken down.

It added that it was working with lawyers to pursue civil and criminal action, vowing “no compromise or leniency whatsoever”.

The account believed to have first posted the video has now been suspended, but no official police or prosecutorial follow-up has yet been announced.