Over 80 pc of South Korea's teens, adults concerned over AI-based online abuse: Poll

Seoul, March 30
More than 80 per cent of South Korea's teenagers and adults expressed concerns over online abuse involving the misuse of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools, such as the creation of deepfake videos and disinformation, a poll showed on Monday.

According to the poll conducted from September to November last year on teenagers and adults by the Korea Media and Communications Commission (KMCC), 89.4 per cent of teenagers said they recognise the seriousness of AI-driven cyber violence, while 87.6 per cent of adults said the same.

The survey was conducted on 9,296 students from fourth-grade elementary school to third-year high school, and 7,521 adults aged 19 to 69.

Teenage respondents cited the ease of creating content with AI tools as their top concern, while adults expressed fears over the potential for repeated harm from AI-generated materials.

The poll additionally showed 42.3 per cent of teenagers experienced some form of cyber abuse in 2025, down 0.5 percentage point from a year earlier. The figure for adults came to 15.8 per cent, up 2.3 percentage points over the same period.

By channel, teenagers said they were mainly exposed to cyber abuse via text messages and online gaming platforms, while adults reported similar experiences primarily through text messages or social media.

For both teenagers and adults, strangers accounted for the largest share of abusers, followed by friends, Yonhap news agency reported.

"Cyber abuse is not just an ethical issue online, but an issue that can harm people's dignity and violate the right to happiness as guaranteed by the Constitution," said KMCC Chair Kim Jong-cheol, noting the government will make efforts to promote the healthy use of digital platforms.

Online abuse is the harmful targeting of individuals or groups via digital platforms, including social media, messaging apps, and gaming sites. It includes cyberbullying, doxing, non-consensual sharing of intimate images, hate speech, stalking, and AI-driven deepfake abuse. Such behaviour causes severe psychological, social, and economic damage.