With artificial intelligence (AI)-generated content becoming popular globally, AI-generated digital photo albums with child pornography content have allegedly been found on the largest online e-commerce platform in Taiwan, prompting academics and civic groups to urge the sellers to remove the illegal content.
Several AI-generated pornographic digital photo albums were allegedly found being sold on Shopee (樂購蝦皮), an e-commerce platform, and some of these albums included keywords such as “little girl” or “junior-high school student” on the title, and AI-generated and pixelated images of naked underage girls.
One of the alleged AI-generated pornographic album sellers, based in Chiayi City, sells more than 100 uncensored full nudity photos with the product details section saying: “Japanese-style junior-high school students.”
Photo: Screen grab from Shopee’s Web site
Although the seller stated that the products contained “fictional characters, all aged 18 years or older,” they might still be considered illegal.
National Chung Hsing University Department of Law professor Bernard Kao (高玉泉) yesterday said that body shapes of the virtual models in images do not look like they are 18 or older, so even if the seller claims the models are above 18, the legality of the products depends on objective judgement.
End Children Prostitution, ECPAT Taiwan secretary-general Chen I-ling (陳逸玲) said that non-realistic images containing sexual abuse of children are regulated by the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act (兒少性剝削防制條例) domestically, and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child globally, which means the sellers should remove the content.
Such fictional content should not be allowed under any circumstances, as it might promote and rationalize pedophilia, she said.
Chen and Kao said fictional sexual exploitation of children would encourage exploitation in real life, as there have been cases in other countries in which offenders used fictional pornograpy to force children to imitate the behaviors.
Chen said as AI technology advances, the line between manufactured content and reality becomes more ambiguous, but child pornography, no matter AI-generated or not, should all be removed from access.
In addition to law enforcement by the government, the sellers should also take the initiative and remove the illegal content, Chen said, adding that if the content is on a foreign Web site, the local authority with the jurisdiction should be requested to ban the Web site.
Kao said that fictional child pornography should also be regulated, or else offenders might intentionally make child pornography look less real and defend themselves by saying: “Unless you can find the real victim, you cannot prove it is a real image.”
Ministry of Health and Welfare Department of Protective Services Director-General Chang Hsiu-yuan (張秀鴛) yesterday said that even AI-generated content can encourage sexual exploitation of children, and according to the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act, offenders can face up to seven years of imprisonment or a fine of up to NT$5 million (US$154,952).
According to Article 2 of the act, “filming, producing, distributing, broadcasting, delivering, publicly displaying, or selling any sexual image or video of a child, or any drawing, audio recording, or other item of a child that is sexualized” are considered sexual exploitation of a child.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
RSS