Editor's NoteFake news and smear campaigns are a recurring phenomenon during every election season. Candidates' words and actions are distorted, re-edited into short videos, and unverified information is spread under the guise of "facts." Social networking services (SNS) have evolved beyond channels for information delivery and have become tools of agitation, with voters swept up in public opinion as both consumers and disseminators. As false information threatens democracy, elections are turning into "battlegrounds of public opinion" rather than "arenas of politics." This has led to the extreme fragmentation of the public sphere and the growing risk that even the minimum core information shared by the public may disappear. In this three-part series, we examine the problems and realities of SNS-driven political warfare and seek possible solutions.
Fake news targeting Lee Jae-myung and Kim Moon-soo Spreading on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, etc. Maliciously edited in the form of 'memes' Attacks not only candidates but also their families and close aides Organized actions by political fandoms are also problematic Mass defamatory comments against opposing candidates
As the 21st presidential election campaign has entered full swing, the battle for public opinion on SNS is intensifying. In particular, defamatory content and fake news targeting Lee Jae Myung, the Democratic Party candidate, and Kim Moonsoo, the People Power Party candidate, are spreading rapidly on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and other platforms, heightening political fatigue. Posts containing manipulated and defamatory content are flooding in, going far beyond simple debate.
Defamatory and fake news content is being newly reconstructed and mass-produced, weaving together both past and present cases. A recent example is a video on TikTok that edited and spread a recording of candidate Lee's abusive remarks toward his sister-in-law as a 10-second "meme." This video, maliciously repeated with the phrase "The dignity of a president chosen by the people," has been viewed millions of times. The comments section was filled with criticism such as "King of abusive language" and "How can we entrust the country to someone like this?" The video spread without any explanation of the facts or context and was further distributed through YouTube and Instagram Reels content.
Lee Jae Myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party, is appealing for support to citizens at the Pohang City Hall square in Gyeongbuk on the 13th, during his campaign in the Daegu-Gyeongbuk (TK) region, known as a "conservative stronghold." The photo on the right shows a list of related search terms that appear when typing the name of presidential candidate Lee Jae Myung in the YouTube search bar.
One of the most prominent examples of fake news circulated using past incidents is the "Gyeyang-eul false residency registration" controversy. The allegation was that candidate Lee registered a false address at a luxury officetel when running for the Gyeyang-eul by-election in Incheon in June 2022. However, this incident actually originated from a dispute between Kim Namjun, then deputy chief of political affairs in the Democratic Party leader's office and a close aide of Lee, and Yoon Hyungseon, the People Power Party candidate for Gyeyang-eul at the time. It had no connection to candidate Lee himself.
Kim, the former deputy chief, called Yoon a "fake Gyeyang resident" in a statement, while Yoon countered by claiming he had lived in Gyeyang-gu for over five years since June 1999, eventually taking the matter to the Supreme Court. This was then cleverly manipulated and reconstructed to falsely portray candidate Lee as having registered a false address.
Content mocking and defaming candidate Kim Moonsoo is also widespread. Recently, a video showing Kim in tears as he demanded the release of Pastor Jeon Kwanghoon of Sarang Jeil Church, who was imprisoned in 2020, was circulated online through X (formerly Twitter) this month. The 1-minute-20-second video shows Kim attending a worship service at Sarang Jeil Church and tearfully saying, "If Pastor Jeon Kwanghoon had been here, we would not have suffered." Kim Moonsoo's campaign has labeled this as fake news and denied any relevance.
Kim Moonsoo, the People Power Party's presidential candidate, is campaigning on the 14th at Jinju Gwangmi Intersection in Jinju, Gyeongnam. The photo on the right is a screenshot of a YouTube Shorts video slandering candidate Kim Moonsoo.
Online attacks against both candidates are targeting not only the candidates themselves but also their families and close aides. Last month, the Democratic Party revealed that there had been an attempt to distribute deepfake (voice and image synthesis technology) videos involving Lee's wife, Kim Hye Kyung, and indicated a firm response. There have also been numerous attacks exploiting Kim Moonsoo's past health issues, with claims such as "He won't last a year if he becomes president."
Most of this SNS content is produced in the form of "memes," making it short and provocative. This makes it difficult to determine whether the information is false and quickly stirs up public emotions. In particular, TikTok's short videos of 15 to 60 seconds have established a culture of "meme politics," leading to criticism that political discourse is being trivialized.
The organized actions of political fandoms are also cited as a problem. Certain supporters act as "comment squads," posting mass defamatory comments on opposing candidates' content or manipulating hashtags to deliberately boost exposure.
Experts point out that SNS has become a "weapon of political agitation" rather than a forum for political discourse, but also highlight the difficulty of regulation. Lee Joonwoong, professor of media and communication at Seoul National University, said, "Excessive regulation, on the other hand, could be criticized as (information control) like in China or Russia," adding, "This is why factual reporting by the media is so important."
IndexFake-Account Political Manipulation on SNS
Excessive Smears... Memes Portray Lee as "Abuser," Kim as "Crybaby"
![[Reportage]"It Only Leads to Arguments"... Chungnam's True Sentiments Hide Deeper After Martial Law](https://cwcontent.asiae.co.kr/asiaresize/304/2026051223490460082_1778597344.jpg)
