Chat rooms have been around since the beginning of the internet, with people using it as a way to communicate with others online. However, not all chat rooms and channels are safe environments.
Since 2020, Telegram, a messenger app, has been under fire for the exploitation of young women and girls and, despite uncovering the dangerous activity present on this messenger app, many of the issues have begun to resurface, again.
In May 2020, two college students were both found guilty for their involvement in the spreading and selling of inappropriate videos of minors on Telegram channels and groups.
On May 12, 2020, 24-year-old college student Hyung-wook Moon, also known by his online alias ‘God God,’ was detained under the charges of violating the Act on the Protection of Children and Youth against Sex Offenses. Four days later, on May 16, 2020, 24-year-old Ju-bin Cho, also known as ‘The Doctor’ was detained under the same charges.
The Nth Room (2018-2020)
The Nth Room was a disturbing South Korean crime case that began in 2018 that involved blackmail, cyber trafficking, and the selling and buying of exploitative videos. Moon, under the online alias of ‘God God’ set up eight Telegram groups, named after their ordinal number, where exploitative explicit videos are brought and shared. These groups were advertised by another user under the alias of ‘Watchman’ through links sent in another Telegram group named “Goddam Room.”
Shortly after the establishment of the Nth Rooms, a copycat crime, named the “Doctor’s Room” was created. Cho, known by his online alias “Doctor,” would post job listings on X, formerly known as Twitter, with the intentions of gathering personal information from women and teens who answered the listing. Their personal information is then used against them to coerce them into taking explicit content of themselves. This content is then distributed via a Telegram chat room and is only accessible through a cryptocurrency payment.
It was reported that at least 103 confirmed victims, 26 of which who are minors, were subjected to having explicit content of them being shared and sold in these Telegram chat rooms, with over 260,000 accounts paying for the explicit content.
In 2020, Netflix released a documentary titled, Cyber Hell: Exposing an Internet Horror, that explains into depth the details of the case, and a year later, KST by The Korean Time also released a documentary on Youtube explaining the case, titled, The Nth Room case: The Making of a Monster.
The New Nth Room (2024)
Recently, in August of 2024, Telegram chat rooms, that housed more than 212,000 participants in them, were exposed for their disturbing resemblance to the “Nth Room,” hence the name the “New Nth Room.”
It was revealed that in order to join these chat rooms, participants must send in a set of photos of any women around them, such as family members or friends, along with providing their personal information.
Some of the chat rooms that were set up were known as “humiliation rooms,” where images that were sent with the purpose of embarrassing the participant’s family members and relatives. These images were taken without consent and knowledge of the subject.
Along with the “humiliation rooms,” rooms that contained AI-generated videos, also known as deep fakes, have been exposed. Many of the AI videos shared in these chat rooms were of people the users knew, with girls as young as middle schoolers falling victim.
Chat rooms dedicated to AI videos of popular South Korean idols and celebrities were also found, with many of the idols being minors.
Queenarchive1, a user on X, was one of the first people to expose and speak up against the atrocities of the “New Nth Room” by posting screenshots of what happens in these Telegram chat rooms. However, their account was unfortunately suspended due to the perpetrators mass reporting their posts and accounts.
Luckily, many other social media users have begun posting and spreading awareness about what occurs in these chat rooms, some even managing to expose the identities and schools of many of the perpetrators. While the ring leaders of the operation have been charged for their shameful crimes, many of the other perpetrators in these chat rooms have sadly not faced any consequences for their crimes.
Telegram
The chatting app itself has faced severe backlash from these incidents due to its failure to control the contents being spread around the app along with turning a blind eye to the illegal activities happening on the app.
On Aug. 24, 2024, Telegram founder Pavel Durov was detained by the French authorities after landing in the country on his private jet under charges of allowing large amounts of crime to happen on the app along with lack of cooperation with the police, and is currently being investigated.
