"Let's Expose the Personal Info of Those Doing the 'n번방 Challenge'" Some Men Attempt to Dox Women Criticizing 'n번방'

'#nbeonbang Strong Punishment Condemnation Hashtag Campaign "nbeonbang Challenge"
Men Attempt to 'Dox' Women Participating in the Challenge

Starting from the 21st, the 'n번방 Challenge' that occurred on Instagram...

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kim Seul-gi] Men collecting personal information of women participating in the 'n-beonbang Challenge' that arose on social networking services (SNS) have appeared, causing controversy. The 'n-beonbang Challenge' is a type of hashtag movement condemning the punishment of the 'Telegram n-beonbang case,' in which minors and other women were threatened to produce sexual exploitation materials and these materials were sold through secret chat rooms on the messenger Telegram.

On SNS platforms such as Twitter and Instagram, since the 20th, the 'n-beonbang Challenge' has spread by adding acquaintances to posts labeled with hashtags like '#nbeonbang_joineojae_jeonwoncheobeol' (#PunishAllNbeonbangMembers) and '#nbeonbang_miseongnyeoja_seongchagchi' (#NbeonbangMinorSexualExploitation), and those added then add their own acquaintances to further spread the challenge.

As hashtag movements like the n-beonbang Challenge emerged, rumors to stop it also circulated in some circles.

One Twitter user posted on the 22nd, "For those who posted the n-beonbang Challenge hashtag on their personal Instagram, if your account is public, I recommend switching it to private. Among those who posted the hashtag, perpetrators are collecting and distributing faces of people with public accounts."

The Telegram sexual exploitation reporting project 'Reset' stated on the 22nd, "We have received reports that men are maliciously searching hashtags on Instagram and collecting personal information of women participating in our n-beonbang Challenge." They added, "Although there are also reports that the existence of chat rooms distributing women's faces and personal information is a rumor, our team’s monitoring of Telegram has found no evidence of personal information being distributed; however, there are continuous signs that men are watching Instagram."

Those distributing personal information of women participating in the 'n-beonbang Challenge' used a method of searching hashtags such as '#nbeonbang_joineojae_jeonwoncheobeol' on SNS like Instagram, entering the Instagram accounts of ordinary women who posted those hashtags, and identifying their personal information through other posts they uploaded.

The women participating in the challenge, fearing that their personal information and photos would be illegally combined with sexual videos and distributed in so-called 'Jiin Neungyok' (acquaintance humiliation) chat rooms, took measures such as switching their accounts to private.

The 'Jiin Neungyok' chat rooms are a 'second n-beonbang,' where digital sex crimes occur by processing photos of nearby women into pornography or posting personal information online along with sexually harassing messages.

Despite these controversies, women continue to carry on the 'n-beonbang Challenge.'

One Instagram user posted, "Even if posting this means my personal information will be exposed or I will be threatened by perpetrators, I am not afraid. I will stand in solidarity with women until the end."

Another Twitter user also raised their voice, saying, "Crimes using personal information such as acquaintance humiliation or deepfakes go beyond common sense, so being cautious is never bad, but one way is to further unite so that they cannot stop this movement."

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