The Ministry of Health and Welfare yesterday said that making or obtaining artificial intelligence (AI)-generated explicit images of children is a crime punishable by a jail sentence, after activists urged the government to regulate such content.
Images involving children made up 52 percent of all complaints child safety advocates receive about sexual exploitation or blackmail through online content, ECPAT Taiwan told a news conference in Taipei.
The group said it had identified 58 Web sites that offer undressing or face swapping functions to create deepfake pornography, including minors as subjects.
Photo: Taipei Times
Taiwan should join the global coalition of governments acting against those overseas platforms, ECPAT Taiwan said.
Ministry of Health and Welfare Department of Protective Services Director Kuo Tsai-jung (郭彩榕) said the ministry has not received complaints about AI-generated child porn, but would exercise greater vigilance on the matter.
Creating, reproducing, distributing or possessing AI-generated child porn is an offense punishable by a prison sentence under 2023 amendments to the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act (兒童及少年性剝削防制條例), she said.
The offense is punishable by a sentence of one to seven years in prison and a fine of NT$100,000 to NT$1 million (US$3,170 to US$31,696), she said.
The definition of child porn is any sexual visual or audio content featuring a minor, including deepfakes or drawings, she said.
Kuo urged members of the public to report online-based sexually exploitative content to the Sexual Image Abuse Center so that officials can remove the material from the Internet and initiate legal action against the culprits.
The ministry would conduct internal deliberations to decide whether new regulations are necessary to deal with the use of generative AI platforms in making child porn, she said.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday briefed her party’s Central Standing Committee regarding her scheduled visit to the US between Monday next week and June 16, saying that her purpose would be to persuade the US that the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution was a “one China” constitution that would foster stable and peaceful cross-strait relations. The ROC Constitution is the most important defense for all Taiwanese citizens, as it upholds our democracy and has contributed to our robust economy, which aligns with international and US interests, she said. “We would not be troublemakers and drag the US under,”
RSS