The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected an appeal by a Taiwanese YouTuber and upheld his five-year prison sentence by a lower court for creating non-consensual deepfake pornography featuring the likenesses of real individuals.
In its ruling, the Supreme Court said there was no error in the sentence handed down by the High Court in Chu Yu-chen’s (朱玉宸) second trial last year, adding that the verdict was justified based on solid evidence.
Chu, who goes by Xiaoyu (小玉) on YouTube, was found guilty in July 2022 by the New Taipei City District Court of contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) for editing the likenesses of 119 individuals, including politicians and social media influencers, into pornographic videos.
Photo: CNA
He, along with his assistant Chuang Hsin-jui (莊炘睿), made more than NT$10 million (US$308,518) from distributing the videos, court documents said.
Chu was given a five-and-a-half-year sentence, while Chuang received three years and eight months, but both were commutable to a fine.
An appeal was filed by prosecutors, who argued that the sentence was too lenient. as they could each pay a fine in lieu of jail time.
In December last year, the High Court revoked the original sentence and revised Chu’s imprisonment to five years, which cannot be commuted to a fine.
Using the likeness of individuals to create deepfake porn videos for public viewing not only tarnishes their reputation, but also harms their mental health, the Supreme Court ruled.
Chu will have to serve an additional 20 months in prison if he is unable to pay a fine after the high court imposed sentencing enhancements.
Meanwhile, the high court at the time also increased Chuang’s sentence to four-and-a-half years, commutable to a fine.
Chu and Chuang subsequently filed an appeal against the verdicts, but the original verdicts were upheld by the Supreme Court on Wednesday and its decision is final.
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
RSS