A series of images mixing artificially generated images with a historical photo purports to draw a connection between "Squid Game" and real-life events. Screenshot from Facebook

Social media users can, and often do, abuse artificial intelligence (AI) to flood the web with inaccurate, misleading and sometimes nefarious falsehoods. This not only threatens our complicated reality — where AI-driven tools are faking current events — but also endangers history and our collective understanding of it.

When it came to a false narrative that went viral recently, I was reminded of a quote from William Faulkner's 1950 novel Requiem for a Nun: "The past is never dead. It's not even the past," and how it highlights the urgency of addressing historical distortions.

Three years after taking the world by storm, "Squid Game" returned to Netflix for its long-awaited second season at the end of December. Within just days, some TikTokers and accounts on other platforms revived the idea that the show is based on a "true story," namely that of the Brothers Home (Hyungje Bokjiwon).

A TikTok that has been shared over 17,000 times and liked more than 50,000 times claimed that in 1986, "[a real-life Squid Game] took place in a bunker underground in no man's land where people were held and had to complete several games to survive. The hosts with unhuman-like thoughts were never found."

Given this clip used a photo of real inmates from the Brothers Home, it did not take long for other users to connect the dots to this notorious social welfare institution in Busan where numerous human rights violations were committed. Subsequent postings were accompanied by grabbed AI-generated images of a depilated warehouse with pink and green walls, reminiscent of the show's bright sets.

The AI images have been identified as the work of a Turkish artist using the Instagram handle @cityhermitai, who did not consent to having his work included in the viral posts.

This is not the first time that the Brothers Home has been incorrectly identified as an inspiration for the creators of "Squid Game." Rumors of the sort were circulated when the first season was released, reaching audiences through media articles published on Yahoo and in The Australian, Australia's only nationally distributed daily.

At first glance, one could be forgiven for buying into the notion that "Squid Game" may be a reimagination of the Brothers Home. Yet as you scratch the surface the two are revealed to share no more than some thematic similarities, such as the dehumanization of vulnerable individuals and the weaponization of violence.

Brothers Home in Busan, January 1987 / Korea Times file

"Squid Game" director Hwang Dong-hyuk has stated on record that his inspiration for the show came from his hardships working in the entertainment industry, as well as his reflections about the extreme competition and inequalities fostered by capitalism in contemporary Korean society. An avid consumer of Japanese manga and anime, Hwang also gave credit to dystopian titles like "Battle Royale" and "Liar Game," as Variety reported.

A key difference between "Squid Game" and the Brothers Home relates to the nature of personal agency. Although the decision they make is colored by their precarious circumstances, the game's contestants are still presented with a choice of whether to play. Although none decide to opt out, they are nonetheless offered the chance to. It is a brief window when their agency is on display, albeit constrained. The organizers behind the game exploit their desperation for cash. They know in the face of debt and other financial hardships that the prize money's allure will overwhelm their free will and condition their choice. The fact that the sum substantially increases as players are eliminated only further encourages fierce, ruthless competition between them.

The inmates detained at the Brothers Home never had a choice to begin with. The Brothers Home was effectively a concentration camp where an estimated 40,000 people were imprisoned under anti-vagrancy ordinances. They were not afforded a trial or any due process. Police officers colluded with the facility's private staff to round up children and adults alike. Some were not even 'vagrants,' but just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

This took place in a context where the state had outsourced the "care" of vulnerable groups, including orphans and people with mental health conditions to "social welfare corporations." The state was also keen to purify society and eliminate the polluting presence of these "undesirables." Part of the rationale was to show the world-at-large how South Korea had transformed into a modern, developed state and deserved to host world-class sporting events like the 1986 Asian Games and 1988 Summer Olympics.

Survivor Han Jong-sun explains the violent situation of the Brothers Home at a press conference for the publication of his book at the National Assembly, Nov. 27, 2012. Korea Times file

One could argue there are certain parallels to be found in how "Squid Game" and the Brothers Home are both systems that offer little true freedom and where group dynamics are manipulated. Survival in either means respecting power structures and obeying rigid rules. Throughout the series, contestants are put into situations where at one instance they must forge alliances to advance while later their survival hinges on the betrayal of a one-time partner. This succeeds in creating dramatic effect, raising questions of personal ethics and building psychological tension. Likewise, "Squid Game" emphasizes graphic depictions of violence. The violence is a spectacle that advances the plot and engages the audience.

Park In-geun, the evil operator of the Brothers Home, embezzled state subsidies and coerced the inmates' physical labor to enrich himself. He also was accused of having meted out vicious beatings and murdering inmates. The Brothers Home was unquestionably a human rights dead zone where human trafficking, forced drug treatment, forced labor, assault and death occurred. Besides enduring sexual and physical violence from the staff, inmates risked the same from their "platoon" leaders — inmates who for whatever reason had earned authority over others. On one hand, survival could depend on respecting the pecking order. On the other, it could require doing whatever it took to put oneself first. Inmates reported that malnutrition was rampant, and it was difficult to eat properly since food was served to thousands on a first come, first served basis.

In 2022, 35 years after the prosecution's first investigation, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Korea confirmed a total of 657 deaths at the Brothers Home between 1975 and 1986 and recognized the state's liability for compensation to the victims. The state, however, has still failed to make a formal apology and continues to appeal the courts' compensation ruling. This has exacerbated the trauma of victims who are simultaneously striving to recover their lives and prove their experiences.

Survivors of the Brothers Home shave their heads in front of the National Assembly, April 28, 2015, to call for the passage of the Brothers Home Special Act. Korea Times file

"Squid Game" reflects some of the horrors that transpired in the Brothers Home, but the importance of not drawing too great of a comparison between them cannot be overstated. Focusing too much on the shared themes can foster an oversimplified narrative of the Brothers Home's dark history. In addition, it risks obscuring what the inmates suffered and trivializing the survivors' ongoing fight for justice.

Jack Greenberg works as a consultant, researcher and freelance writer. His current focus is on heritage and conservation issues, historical memory debates, truth-seeking and reconciliation and civilian massacres of the 1950-53 Korean War. He was the recipient of the Global Korea Scholarship, and earned an MA in international studies at Korea University. He is also an alumnus of McGill University.