Teenagers Arrested for Running Telegram 'Exposure Rooms' Distributing Personal Info and Child Exploitation Material

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A group of teenagers who operated so-called "exposure rooms" (Bakjebang) to publicly shame or harass specific individuals by disclosing their personal information has been apprehended by the police. It was revealed that, in the process of posting content upon request, they even distributed child and youth sexual exploitation materials without any filtering.

According to Yonhap News on April 27, the Cyber Investigation Division of the Gyeonggi Southern Provincial Police Agency arrested three teenage males, including a suspect identified as "A," on charges of violating the Act on the Protection of Children and Juveniles from Sexual Abuse, the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection (defamation), and the Personal Information Protection Act. Two of the three were taken into custody, while the arrest warrant for the remaining suspect was denied.

The suspects, who were local friends, are accused of setting up and operating four private Telegram channels from September of last year to April of this year, a period of about seven months. The investigation found that, at the request of channel participants, they posted photos, names, residential addresses, and other personal information of specific individuals, along with defamatory content containing false information.

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In particular, during this process, they also posted deepfake videos fabricated by informants to harass victims, as well as child and youth sexual exploitation materials, without any filtering. As a result, they were additionally charged with violating laws protecting children and juveniles.

Although the suspects did not receive separate payments from those who requested the exposure, it was found that they generated profits by accepting banner advertisements from illegal online gambling sites and SIM card vendors on their channels.

Among the group, suspect "A" first created two exposure room channels and began making profits. Upon learning this, the other two suspects each subsequently set up an additional channel. The total number of participants across the four channels reached approximately 10,000 people.

The police confiscated 7.8 million won in cash and gold bars worth about 11 million won from the suspects and applied for pre-indictment preservation of confiscated assets. The police also requested the Korea Communications Standards Commission to shut down all four channels operated by the suspects. A police official stated, "We plan to expand the investigation to include not only the channel operators but also the informants who requested exposure by submitting illegal footage and other materials."

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