The regulations from the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) issued late on Sunday provide for people to be protected from being impersonated without their consent by deepfakes - images that are virtually indistinguishable from the original, and easily used for manipulation or misinformation.
The CAC said the move was aimed at curbing
risks that might arise from activities provided by such platforms that use deep
learning or virtual reality to alter any online content, what the regulator
calls "deep synthesis service providers", and to also promote the
industry's healthy development.
Last month, the cyberspace regulator
announced it would revise its rules that will require operators of online and
social media accounts to strengthen their review and management of comments
left on their pages.
The CAC had stated that account operators
should set up and improve their systems to review comments, and be ready to
report illegal and undesirable information to the regulator.
Public account producers and operators who
provide services for follow-up comments are also required to assess the
credibility of the account users making those comments, reasonably set up
management rights and offer technical support, according to the statement. The
regulator did not specify penalties for rule violations.
In June, the CAC proposed an addition to
the existing rules, urging platforms to take action against holders of public
accounts that disseminate "illegal or bad content", such as by
issuing warnings or deleting their posts, and report such incidents to the regulator
in a timely manner.
The announcement comes as Chinese authorities are tightening their policing of the internet and what topics the public is allowed to discuss. Social media platforms such as WeChat and Weibo regularly block or delete posts and comments. The amendments to existing rules will be effective from December 15, the regulator had stated at the time. © Reuters