An artificial intelligence-generated deepfake of Chinese actress Wen Zhengrong's face and voice was used by unscrupulous merchants to impersonate her in livestream sales, prompting increased calls for stronger and more tailored regulation and penalties from internet platforms and the law.

近日，有不良商家利用人工智能生成的深度伪造内容，盗用中国女演员温峥嵘的人脸和声音进行直播带货。这一事件引发了公众强烈反响，互联网平台和法律层面均出现加强针对性监管与处罚的呼声。

The discovery was made last week when Wen appeared to simultaneously host three different early morning livestream rooms on social media, wearing different outfits and promoting different products. The Wen "clones" looked and sounded strikingly similar to Wen, a feat that quickly ignited online discussion.

上周，有网友发现温峥嵘疑似同时在社交媒体的三个不同直播间进行早间直播。画面中的“温峥嵘”身着不同服装、推广不同产品，其外貌和声音与本人高度相似，这一现象迅速引发网络热议。

According to a China Media Group report on Wednesday, the forged images were produced either by clipping past videos and screen recordings or by taking earlier livestream footage of Wen and running it through AI-based deep synthesis, including voice alteration.

据中央广播电视总台周三报道，这些伪造影像的制作方式主要有两种：一是剪辑过往视频和屏幕录制片段；二是提取温峥嵘早期直播素材，通过基于人工智能的深度合成技术（包括语音修改）进行处理。

"These AI tactics confuse the public. My image and likeness have been infringed, and it is deeply hurtful," Wen said in the video report. She added that if viewers who trust her were misled into buyingcounterfeit goods, "I would feel truly sad."

温峥嵘在视频报道中表示：“这些人工智能手段误导了公众，我的肖像权和人格权受到了侵犯，这让我深感痛心。”她还提到，若信任自己的观众因此被误导购买到假冒伪劣产品，“我会感到非常难过”。

Li Ya, a partner at Zhongwen Law Firm in Beijing, told China Daily that such conduct was suspected of violating Wen's right of portrait and may also harm her right of reputation.

北京中文律师事务所合伙人李亚向《中国日报》表示，此类行为涉嫌侵犯温峥嵘的肖像权，还可能损害其名誉权。

Using someone's image for profit without authorization infringes on portrait rights, he said. "If sellers speak in her name and make false or exaggerated claims, that will negatively impact a public figure's reputation."

李亚指出，未经授权使用他人肖像牟利构成肖像权侵权。“如果商家以她的名义进行虚假宣传或夸大宣传，将对公众人物的名誉造成负面影响。”

Wen's team said that once the fake clips began circulating, they filed reports around the clock, flagging about 50 impersonation accounts in one day, according to CMG.

据中央广播电视总台报道，温峥嵘团队表示，虚假片段传播后，他们立即展开24小时不间断投诉，单日就举报了约50个仿冒账号。

Some livestreaming accounts were taken down, they said, but others quickly reappeared in new forms. Wen's staff noted that certain merchants can fabricate content by extracting brief footage and relying on AI functions built into video-editing apps, while the team faces a much higher burden to preserve evidence and defend their rights.

温峥嵘团队称，部分直播账号已被下架，但另有一些账号很快以新形式重新出现。工作人员表示，部分商家只需提取简短素材，借助视频编辑软件内置的人工智能功能就能伪造内容，而团队维权时却面临着证据固定难、维权成本高的困境。

Li said it is unrealistic to expect victims alone to safeguard their rights.

李亚表示，仅靠受害者自身维权并不现实。

"Rule-breaking merchants can open new accounts at will and face almost no cost for infringement," he added.

李亚补充道：“违规商家可随意注册新账号，侵权成本几乎为零。”

He noted that social platforms have a duty to deploy technology to detect whether AI tools are being used improperly in livestreams or short videos, and to penalize offending accounts as well as the operating companies and teams behind them, in order to prevent harm to third parties.

他强调，社交平台有责任运用技术手段，检测直播或短视频中是否存在人工智能工具的不当使用行为。同时，平台需对违规账号及其背后的运营公司和团队进行处罚，以防范对第三方造成损害。

In September, new regulations on labeling AI-generated synthetic content, released by the Cyberspace Administration of China and other agencies, took effect. The rules require clear "AI-generated" labels on synthetic faces and videos.

今年9月，国家互联网信息办公室等部门发布的《生成式人工智能服务管理暂行办法》正式生效，其中明确要求对合成人脸、合成视频等内容标注“AI生成”字样。

In practice, however, some merchants hide labels in obscure locations or mask them, allowing infringements to slip through reviews from the social platforms.

但在实际执行中，部分商家将标注隐藏在隐蔽位置或进行遮挡，导致侵权行为逃过平台审核。

"If a video lacks the necessary authorization and fails to show an AI-generation label, using someone else's face or voice in a livestream is atextbook case of infringement," Li said. "Victims can sue the merchant and even the platform, which bears responsibility for keeping online order."

“若视频未经授权，且未标注AI生成标识，在直播中使用他人人脸或声音即属典型侵权行为。”李亚说，“受害者可起诉商家，甚至追究平台责任，因为平台负有维护网络秩序的义务。”

On Thursday, Douyin's e-commerce safety and trust center said on its official social account that it had launched a special campaign in October targeting infringements. Those included cases where merchants or content creators, without permission, spliced videos, blended text, or used AI and digital effects to mimic celebrities for sales. The short-video platform's response to these actions included cutting livestreams, removing or banning involved products, freezing transaction proceeds, and ordering business suspensions, it said.

周四，抖音电商安全与信任中心在其官方社交账号发布声明称，平台已于10月启动专项治理行动，重点打击各类侵权行为。其中包括商家或内容创作者未经授权，通过拼接视频、混合文本、运用人工智能及数字特效仿冒名人进行带货的行为。声明指出，平台针对此类行为采取的措施包括中断直播、下架或封禁相关商品、冻结交易款项、责令暂停经营等。

Since the campaign began, the platform has acted against 11,000 creator accounts involved in impersonations and taken down more than 6,700 products, it said. In addition, more than 10,000 infringing videos faking Wen's likeness and voice for marketing were removed.

声明显示，专项行动开展以来，平台已处置1.1万个涉仿冒行为的创作者账号，下架商品超6700件，同时清理了1万余条仿冒温峥嵘人脸及声音进行营销的侵权视频。

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