Can Laws Stop Deepfakes? South Korea Aims to Find Out

The article examines the growing threat of AI-generated deepfakes in electoral contexts, highlighting South Korea's new legal framework (a 90-day pre-election ban under the Public Official Election Act and disclosure requirements under the AI Basic Act), deployment of a national deepfake detection tool, and ongoing enforcement actions ahead of local elections. It notes real-world examples (robocalls, fake candidate videos), the technical ease and speed of modern deepfakes, and argues that while laws and detection are necessary, challenges remain in speed of spread, encrypted channels, platform accountability, and media literacy.