# South Korean Online Communities Will Need to Scan Every Images with AI Censorship Tools **URL:** https://discuss.privacyguides.net/t/south-korean-online-communities-will-need-to-scan-every-images-with-ai-censorship-tools/38341 **Category:** News **Tags:** article **Created:** 2026-06-04T12:29:42Z **Posts:** 11 ## Post 1 by @g92o4k73la — 2026-06-04T12:29:42Z Due to recent regulation changes (전기통신사업법), the South Korean government is requiring internet communities and forum owners to scan every user uploaded images and videos on their website, by AI. The hardware to run these AI models are also not provided by government, website owners have to buy datacenter grade Nvidia GPUs by themselves, putting financial pressure to small businesses and forums. Websites will need to implement these hardware and software features, starting immediately from July 1st, which is just next month. Here is the original image provided from Korean government, specifying the hardware requirements for AI models. I also added English translated image, made with nano banana (sorry for using ai for this…) ![IMG_2598](https://forum-uploads.privacyguidesusercontent.com/original/3X/4/9/497dff4ad1357d00ceb7403851af5b8a7d4b22da.webp) ![translated](https://forum-uploads.privacyguidesusercontent.com/original/3X/c/1/c1d832ae300e923c4b5e948015ae57127c5bc113.jpeg) Related article (in Korean): > **[이미지 올려도 사전 검열? '찬반 대립' 배경은](https://www.gameple.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=215562)** > > 국내 인터넷 커뮤니티에 올리는 이미지도 인공지능(AI)으로 사전 검열하는 정책이 가시화됐다. 사회 안전망 필요성과 표현의 자유 침해 사이에서 여론은 엇갈린다.'n번방 방지법'으로 불린 전기통신사업법 개정안은 2021년 시행됐다. AI를 이용해 SNS, 메신저, 커뮤니티 등지에 업로드... Post from Korean forum/news website(루리웹) owner, after listening briefing from Korean government, expressing how ridiculous the situation is: > **[7월부터 바로 적용하라고 하네요](https://bbs.ruliweb.com/community/board/300143/read/75437741?search_type=member_srl&search_key=7219)** > > 말이 이랬다 저랬다 어쩌자는 건지회의장에 있던 사람들 다 어의가 없어서 다들 웃는 상황이6개월 유예기간 준다고 그래서 다들 당장 적용 생각 안하고 있는데장비 수급이 불가능하다는 이야기에자기들은 장비는 모른다 법 기준이 7월 부터이니 해야 한다고 답을 하네요 This feels really dystopian, even for South Korean standards. --- ## Post 2 by @WhinyHamletPayer — 2026-06-04T14:41:16Z And this is why South Korea has been ranked only slightly better in terms of press freedom than their authoritarian counterpart North Korea. --- ## Post 3 by @Regime6045 — 2026-06-04T16:35:06Z And what do they even want to censor? Nudity/porn? If so, why do you need some super strong Nvidia hardware, it can’t be so hard to filter it out even without AI? --- ## Post 4 by @crossroads — 2026-06-04T20:13:08Z I would say it is either written by incompetent lawmakers or by someone whose goal is to kill small, free and open communities. But most likely both --- ## Post 5 by @g92o4k73la — 2026-06-04T23:19:46Z I’m not fluent in law so I might be wrong, but the law itself roughly states about illegally filmed porns without subject’s consent, and CSAM materials. **But in practice, it is much worse.** 1. South Korea has been pushing to classify creative works like drawings and novels as CSAM if it contains minors. If you drew NSFW fanart about some 2D anime character that is 17 years old? yup, that is CSAM right there, prepare for interrogation and jail time. 2. While porn is basically illegal in South Korea, AI model seems to be even more sensitive, blocking even mild nudity in general. This is known because the law itself is not new, it is now just getting expanded to include internet communities and forums, but the law has been in effect for messenger apps like KakaoTalk since 2021, and there have been cases where the ai model censored photos of normal swimsuits, anime drawings, memes, any photo that contains text “sex”, and even linear algebra math problems for some reason. 3. Few days ago in Korea, there has been a controversy about creating memes about dead former president, 노무현. This system might censor memes about politicians in the future, who knows. --- ## Post 6 by @Bumbashirovich — 2026-06-05T05:14:07Z This is a country with a long tradition of censorship. It’s no surprise that censorship has moved online. --- ## Post 7 by @Suwon — 2026-06-05T20:32:22Z Ironically, it isn’t forcibly applied on foreign services X, Telegram or BlueSky. :rofl: --- ## Post 8 by @cultdev — 2026-06-06T20:08:55Z [@Suwon](https://discuss.privacyguides.net/u/Suwon) so all korean online communities are just going to move out of domestic korean spaces. lol. smart law --- ## Post 9 by @cultdev — 2026-06-06T20:09:49Z [@g92o4k73la](https://discuss.privacyguides.net/u/g92o4k73la) korea’s blind devotion to AI grows more repulsive by the day --- ## Post 10 by @Suwon — 2026-06-07T13:48:23Z Although the arca.live website is effectively operated solely for the Korean market, its legal entity is based in Paraguay. As expected, they are not complying with this rule. --- ## Post 11 by @g92o4k73la — 2026-06-08T01:21:14Z Per my experience, in Korea, it feels like almost 1/3 of the Ads on TV are made with AI. Not some random youtube Ads, real tv Ads from reputable/large brands and they are still using fully ai generated videos, and there is no backlash at all. Not only that, Korean online news articles have almost entirely replaced stock photos with AI, and even TV news stations are now using AI videos. I’ve also seen AI videos on Shopping channels on TV, which is nuts. You are showing fake/generated videos which inherently contains some level of hallucinations to sell a physical product??? I don’t understand how that can be legal. I did not know people had such low standards, nobody seems to care craftsmanship.