Deepfake porn creators ordered to pay NT$1.85 million in compensation

Taipei, Dec. 18 (CNA) The Taiwan High Court ruled on Wednesday that two Taiwanese YouTubers, found guilty of creating nonconsensual deepfake pornography using the likenesses of real individuals, must compensate the victims who sued them a total of NT$1.85 million (US$57,000). The ruling allows for an appeal.

The six internet celebrity-victims who filed a civil lawsuit against Chu Yu-chen (朱玉宸) and his assistant Chuang Hsin-jui (莊炘睿) will each receive between NT$200,000 and NT$500,000 in emotional distress compensation, according to the court's decision.

The criminal part of the case was finalized earlier this year, with Chu and Chuang sentenced to five and 4.5 years in prison, respectively.

Court documents revealed that the pair were found guilty of violating the Personal Data Protection Act by manipulating the likenesses of 119 individuals, including politicians and social media influencers, into pornographic videos.

The duo reportedly earned over NT$10 million from distributing the videos.