The Ministry of the Interior and Safety said on the 28th that it held an interagency working-level meeting at Government Complex Seoul to coordinate a pan-government response to false and fake news.
The meeting was held to review the status of false and fake news ahead of voting and to focus on real-time takedowns through election day.
Ahead of the election, posts violating electioneering rules continue to increase. According to police, as of the 27th of this month, a total of 921 people have been caught on charges of smear campaigns, including false and fake news. This is an increase of 550 from the 371 people caught by Apr. 13, 50 days before election day, at the first meeting of ministers on fair elections. The daily average is 12.5 people.
Requests to delete posts violating electioneering rules using deepfakes are also increasing. As of the 27th of this month, the National Election Commission has requested 10,319 deletions. That is 98.2% of the total 10,510 deletion requests during the 21st presidential election period. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS) predicted that, considering there is one week left until election day, the number of deletion requests in this election will be higher than in the last presidential election.
In response, the government is pursuing measures such as detecting and deleting fake news, filing complaints, and investigations through organic cooperation among relevant agencies, including the Korean National Police Agency and the Korea Media and Communications Commission. The National Election Commission is cooperating with information sharing and measures such as deleting fake news.
Vice Minister Kim Min-jae of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS) said, "Fake news is a crime that denies democracy and an obstacle that hinders social integration," adding, "We will respond swiftly and sternly through close cooperation among related agencies until the election ends."