Distributor Referred to Prosecution for Exaggerated Advertising with AI-Generated Fake Doctor, Earning 8.1 Billion Won in Sales

Ministry Cracks Down on False and Exaggerated Advertising Using Generative AI

Virtual Character Posing as Doctor Deceives Consumers

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced on June 10 that it had referred a distributor to the prosecution on charges of violating the Act on Labeling and Advertising of Foods, etc., after the company used a fake doctor generated by artificial intelligence (AI) on social media to illegally advertise and sell ordinary food products as if they were effective in reducing body age and preventing aging.

The Ministry detected companies engaging in false and exaggerated advertising using AI through monitoring by the Cyber Investigation Team and an administrative investigation by the Food Management Division from October to December of last year. Following this, the Central Investigation Unit for Hazardous Crimes immediately launched an investigation into the circumstances and facts of the violations by the companies involved.

A fake doctor created using artificial intelligence (AI) technology is falsely advertising other processed products made from vitamin C, yeast foods, etc., as being effective in "reducing body age" and "reversing aging" on body tissues. Ministry of Food and Drug Safety

The investigation revealed that Distributor A and the head of its business division, Mr. B, exaggerated advertisements on their online shopping mall and YouTube, claiming that other processed products made with vitamin C, yeast foods, and similar ingredients had effects on bodily tissues such as "reducing body age" and "anti-aging." Over a nine-month period from September of last year to last month, they sold approximately 650,000 units, generating total sales of about 8.1 billion won.

Although the Food Labeling and Advertising Act prohibits advertisements in which doctors or similar professionals recommend food products, the suspects used AI technology to create a virtual middle-aged doctor indistinguishable from a real person and produced advertising videos suggesting that the products had anti-aging effects, which they then posted on social media.

To prevent further damage, the Ministry requested that the platform operators block and remove the advertising videos at the administrative investigation stage in November of last year.

Meanwhile, as advertising using virtual characters that are difficult to distinguish from real people has surged recently with the advancement of generative AI and deepfake technology, the Ministry revised the Food Labeling and Advertising Act, the Cosmetics Act, and the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act on May 26. The Ministry plans to continue operating a three-layer monitoring system consisting of online monitoring, administrative investigations, and criminal investigations to crack down on deceptive advertising targeting consumers.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.