Ride the Lightning

China Criminalizes Publishing Deepfakes or Fake News Without Disclosure

December 3, 2019

Reuters reported on November 29 that Chinese regulators have announced new rules governing video and audio content online, including a ban on the publishing and distribution of "fake news" created with technologies such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality.

Any use of AI or virtual reality also needs to be clearly marked in a prominent manner and failure to follow the rules could be considered a criminal offense, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said on its website.

The rules take effect January 1 and were published on the CAC website on November 29 after being issued earlier to online video and audio service providers.

The CAC highlighted potential problems caused by deepfake technology, which uses AI to create hyper-realistic videos where a person appears to say or do something they did not.

Deepfake technology could "endanger national security, disrupt social stability, disrupt social order and infringe upon the legitimate rights and interests of others," according to a transcript of a press briefing published on the CAC's website.

China makes a lot of moves I don't like – but I do applaud this move – and hope our own Congress will do the same. So far, only California has passed its own version of a deepfakes ban targeting election and porn deepfakes.

Sharon D. Nelson, Esq., President, Sensei Enterprises, Inc.
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