aespa Deepfake Creator Sentenced to 2 Years and 6 Months in Prison...SM Vows Strong Response

aespa. Provided by SM Entertainment

SM Entertainment announced on June 18 that individual A, who created and sold deepfake videos combining the faces of Karina and Winter from the group aespa, has been sentenced to two years and six months in prison.

The 1st Criminal Division of the Daegu High Court also ordered A to complete 80 hours of a sexual violence treatment program and imposed a seven-year employment restriction at institutions related to children and adolescents.

SM stated that it maintains a zero-tolerance policy towards crimes that infringe upon the rights of its artists. The company explained, "Through reports from fans and our own monitoring efforts, we have collected thousands of pieces of evidence of malicious posts from online communities and social media, which were submitted in a formal complaint." They added, "The identities of many of the accused have been confirmed, and investigations are underway."

They further announced, "We will continue to take strong legal action against the creation of malicious rumors, the spread of false information, and the posting of sexually harassing content, without leniency or settlement."

aespa released their second full-length album, 'LEMONADE,' on May 29. The album entered the 'Billboard 200,' which is the main Billboard albums chart, as well as more than seven other Billboard charts, including 'Artist 100' and 'Global 200,' for two consecutive weeks.

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