More than 80% of South Korea’s teenagers and adults are worried about online abuse linked to the misuse of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools like deepfake videos and disinformation, as per a recent poll. The Korea Media and Communications Commission (KMCC) conducted the survey from September to November last year, involving 9,296 students from fourth-grade elementary school to third-year high school and 7,521 adults aged 19 to 69. The poll found that 89.4% of teenagers and 87.6% of adults acknowledged the seriousness of AI-driven cyber violence.
Teenagers highlighted the ease of creating content with AI tools as their top concern, while adults expressed apprehensions about the potential for recurring harm from AI-generated materials. The survey also revealed that 42.3% of teenagers experienced some form of cyber abuse in 2025, a slight decrease from the previous year, while the figure for adults rose to 15.8%, up by 2.3 percentage points over the same period.
In terms of exposure to cyber abuse, teenagers mentioned receiving it mainly through text messages and online gaming platforms, whereas adults reported similar experiences primarily via text messages or social media. Both teenagers and adults identified strangers as the most common perpetrators of cyber abuse, followed by friends. KMCC Chair Kim Jong-cheol emphasized that cyber abuse not only raises ethical concerns online but also poses a threat to people’s dignity and happiness rights guaranteed by the Constitution. He stated that the government would strive to encourage the responsible use of digital platforms.
