Overview
- The Metropolitan Police arrested 32-year-old Kenta Imoto on Sunday, Aug. 2, on suspicion of defamation and publicly displaying child‑pornography for posting AI‑generated obscene images on social media.
- Police say a 17‑year‑old high school boy who requested the images will be formally referred for the same charges and investigators are probing additional alleged victims and distribution channels.
- Investigators traced some obscene images to paid image‑generation services and SNS groups where many photos, including decades‑old school and athletic photos, were posted and used as source material.
- Support group NPO ぱっぷす and police reports say victims include middle and high school students, and specialists report a sharp rise in consultations as the technology makes fake nude images easy to produce.
- The case highlights a legal gap in Japan because there is no statute that directly bans creating fake nude images, a situation that has coincided with a recent rise in reported AI sexual‑deepfake cases and may prompt new legislation or enforcement moves.