Christine Li is a model and influencer, but not an actor, so when she saw herself playing a cruel character in a Chinese microdrama she felt bewildered, then angry and afraid.<\/p>\n
The 26-year-old is one of two people who told AFP their likenesses were cast without consent in the AI-generated show “The Peach Blossom Hairpin”, which ran on Hongguo, a major microdrama app owned by Tiktok parent company ByteDance.<\/p>\n
Li plans to sue the drama makers and the platform, highlighting new legal and regulatory grey areas created by artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n
“I was genuinely shocked. It was clearly me,” said Li, who lives in Hangzhou in eastern China.<\/p>\n
“It was so obvious that they used a specific set of photos I took two years ago” and had posted on social media, she said.<\/p>\n
Microdramas are ultra-short, online soap operas\u00a0hugely popular in China and elsewhere.<\/p>\n
When Li’s fans alerted her to the series, she was horrified to find her digital twin shown slapping women and mistreating animals.<\/p>\n
“I also felt a deep fear. I kept wondering what kind of person would do something like this,” Li said.<\/p>\n
Hongguo hosts thousands of free, bite-sized shows — both live-action and AI-generated — whose episodes are two or three minutes long.<\/p>\n
As of October, the platform had around 245 million monthly active users, according to data cited by Wenwen Han, president of the Short Drama Alliance.<\/p>\n
A Hongguo statement in early April said it had taken the series down because the producers had violated platform rules and contractual obligations.<\/p>\n
– ‘Sleazy’ antagonist –<\/p>\n
AI’s ability to mimic real people has sparked global concern for actors’ jobs, and over such deepfakes being used for scams and propaganda.<\/p>\n
Li and a man who says he was portrayed as her AI husband in the series, which became a hit last month on Hongguo, spoke out online about their separate unwelcome discoveries.<\/p>\n
But even as their stories sparked a public outcry about AI ethics, AFP saw that “The Peach Blossom Hairpin” kept running for days before its removal, with the disputed characters quietly replaced.<\/p>\n
The man, a stylist specialised in traditional Chinese clothing and make-up, had posted photos of himself in costume on the Instagram-like Xiaohongshu app.<\/p>\n
Like Li, he was upset by the “ugly” portrayal of his likeness as a “sleazy” antagonist in the show.<\/p>\n
“Will it have an impact on me, on my job, on my future work opportunities?” said the man, who asked to use the pseudonym Baicai.<\/p>\n
To keep audiences hooked, microdramas are often full of shocking, larger-than-life moments.<\/p>\n
Li and Baicai both showed AFP their original photos and the characters in “The Peach Blossom Hairpin”, which bore a strong resemblance.<\/p>\n
– Legal risk –<\/p>\n
For low-budget AI microdramas, Chinese regulations say platforms must be the primary checkpoint for potentially dodgy content.<\/p>\n
If they do not carry out mandatory content reviews, the videos will be forcibly taken down, according to the National Radio and Television Administration.<\/p>\n
If the platforms were aware of any infringement but failed to act on it, parties affected can alert China’s cyberspace authorities which can impose administrative penalties, according to Zhao Zhanling, a partner at Beijing Javy Law Firm.<\/p>\n
Hongguo said in a second statement this month it would continue to strengthen how it reviews content and how it authorises creators, among other steps.<\/p>\n
It said it had dealt with 670 AI microdramas that violated regulations, with most taken down, and warned it would crack down on repeated breaches.<\/p>\n
When approached for comment, parent company Bytedance referred AFP to the two Hongguo statements.<\/p>\n
Li and Baicai say they need more information from Hongguo to confirm the identity of the drama’s creator — with two companies potential candidates.<\/p>\n
One is linked to a verified account on the Chinese version of TikTok that also published the series. Another is listed as the drama’s producer on an official Chinese filing system.<\/p>\n
AFP contacted both firms but received no response.<\/p>\n
Using AI to slash costs may be tempting in the fast-growing, multi-billion-dollar microdrama market.<\/p>\n
But featuring someone in a demeaning way without permission “may constitute an infringement of both portrait rights and reputation rights”, said Li’s lawyer Yijie Zhao, from Henan\u00a0Huailv\u00a0Law Firm.<\/p>\n
– ‘Associated with controversy’ –<\/p>\n
National regulations require microdrama makers to register to obtain a licence — a step made mandatory for AI-generated animations from this month.<\/p>\n
But producers could remain in the shadows by registering temporary outfits, Zhao said, while some allegedly use overseas servers to hide.<\/p>\n
In 2024, a Beijing court ordered a company to apologise and pay compensation to a celebrity after its AI software enabled users to produce a virtual persona using his photos and name that could exchange intimate messages.<\/p>\n
But lawyers told AFP that compensation for plaintiffs like Li likely won’t amount to much due to the limited commercial value of an ordinary likeness.<\/p>\n
Li worries that the saga may cost her opportunities in the modelling industry, as she is now “associated with controversy”.<\/p>\n
Baicai has not launched legal action, but hopes to see more measures from regulators and platforms to protect people like him.<\/p>\n
“There are probably plenty of cases with unknown victims,” he said.<\/p>\n
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