The South Korean YouTube star and webtoon artist Lee Mal-nyeon, popularly known as ChimChakMan, has declared his plans to take legal action against companies that illegally use deepfake technology to promote online gambling games.
Lee discovered that these companies had created “synthesized” videos using his content and characters without his consent, utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) tools. He believes that the creators of these deepfake videos are operating from overseas.
### ChimChakMan Hopes to Sue Makers of Illegal Gambling Ad ‘Deepfakes’
According to South Korean media reports, Lee’s representatives mentioned, “Some companies have recently started to indiscriminately distribute advertisements for illegal gambling sites, manipulating ChimChakMan’s images and voice using AI without any authorization.”
The representatives emphasized, “ChimChakMan has never endorsed illegal gambling games. All advertisement videos claiming otherwise are fraudulent.”
Lee’s team is acting aggressively by planning to report all such advertisements and pursue strict legal actions against the video creators for copyright infringement and violating the Unfair Competition Prevention Act.
The ChimChakMan team has alerted followers to remain vigilant and avoid interacting with any links associated with these deceptive deepfake videos. They also recommended immediate reporting of any new instances of such videos on social media to the respective platform administrators.
Given that the law-breaking companies are based internationally, Lee’s representatives have mentioned that resolving this issue might be prolonged, which is why they are issuing an early warning. Their objective is to prevent any damage to fans or the public from these false ads.
Lee reiterated emphatically that he has never advertised for illegal gambling games.
### Asian Celebrities Battle AI-powered Fake Gambling Ads
ChimChakMan boasts a substantial audience, with nearly 2.9 million subscribers on YouTube and over 779,000 followers on Twitch. Lee has further expanded his presence to television, featuring on popular South Korean variety shows such as “*Please Take Care of My Refrigerator*,” “*Omniscient Interfering View*,” and “*Salon Drip*.”
He also appeared in the 2020 drama series “*To All the Guys Who Loved Me*.”
The problem of deepfake videos promoting illegal casino websites and gambling games is increasingly troubling for Asian content creators. Last month, Malaysian Instagram and TikTok celebrity Yipin filed a police complaint alleging that her content was misappropriated and altered with AI technologies, creating the false impression that she endorsed illegal betting sites.