South Korean lawmakers have passed a law banning the possession and watching of deepfake porn, with prison time or a heft fine for violators.

South Korea regulators on Monday hailed productive talks with messaging app Telegram over a deepfake porn crisis in the country. In August, media and authorities uncovered a sprawling network of Telegram chatrooms in South Korea,

The disturbing practice is becoming a serious problem in the country, and it is mainly hurting women and minors.

The “sudden move” by Telegram to cooperate with the South Korean authorities could be tied to the arrest in France of the app’s chief Pavel Durov, on charges of failing to act against criminals, a cyber-security professor told AFP.

South Korean lawmakers on Thursday passed a bill that criminalizes possessing or watching sexually explicit deepfake images and videos, with penalties set to include prison terms and fines.

South Korea is poised to criminalize possessing or looking at sexually explicit AI-manipulated deepfake photos or video.