In order to further promote the healthy and orderly development of the short video industry and create a clean and upright cyberspace, the Cyberspace Administration of China recently issued a notice to deploy a nationwide two-month special campaign to “clear up and rectify the chaos of false characters in short videos”.
The relevant responsible comrades of the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission stated that this special action will focus on rectifying the following five outstanding issues:
(1) The problem of pretending to be a vulnerable group. The first is to pretend to be a new employment group and plan and stage scenes such as "bringing children to deliver food" and "highly educated people delivering food" to deceive public sympathy by exaggerating the hardship of life and the hardship of making a living. The second is to pretend to be farmers, people in need in mountainous areas, rural grassroots cadres, agricultural product purchasers, etc., and bring goods in the name of helping farmers. The third is to pretend to be disabled or seriously ill people, creating extremely poor characters and tragic life experiences. The fourth is to pretend to be a person who is unhappy in marriage and love to attract traffic and make profits.
(2) The issue of fictitious professional qualifications. The first is to fabricate information such as resumes, honors, professional titles, titles, etc., pretend to be doctors, lawyers, teachers, etc., fabricate titles and certificates, output inducing words or vulgar and irrelevant information, and make profits through paid consultation, course training, attracting sales, etc. The second is to use vague keywords related to professional fields, bypass the platform's requirements for professional qualification certification, publish content in related professional fields in disguise, and spread false information to mislead the public.
(3) The problem of using AI and other counterfeit characters. The first is to use AI to synthesize false audio and video, impersonate public figures, and carry out infringement and illegal activities such as false endorsements and marketing. The second is to pretend to be parties involved in hot social events, relatives, etc. to publish content, or to move content to open "shadow accounts" to defraud netizens' attention and donations. The third is to deliberately associate well-known public figures in the account name introduction, and imply authorization by adding or deleting words, adding symbols, moving videos, etc.
(4) The problem of advocating extravagance and superstition. The first is to rent luxury cars, mansions and luxury goods, stage pictures of high-end consumption, package the status of rich second generation, socialite and other wealthy people, hype and compare to show off wealth, and attract traffic to make profits. The second is to create a grassroots entrepreneurial and counterattack character, create the illusion of sudden wealth, and attract traffic and make profits through attracting investment, selling goods, entrepreneurship courses, paid communities, etc. The third is to package their identities as Feng Shui masters, astrologers, metaphysics instructors, etc., export superstitious content, sell goods with the words "change luck and eliminate disasters", pay for calculations, and divert traffic in private areas to make profits.
(5) The problem of fabricating conflict plots. The first is to pretend to be public welfare persons, volunteers, etc., direct and act out "charitable rescue" plots such as helping others, treating employees well, making false donations, etc., or artificially creating coincidences and making up stories to attract people and make money. The second is to fabricate domestic violence, school dropout, abandonment, separation, kidnapping and other conflicts and security incidents to mislead netizens and incite social panic and anger. The third is to concoct short videos such as "Humanity Test" that belittle and vilify specific regions or groups, falsely create "ugly" and "tricky" narratives, instigate group confrontation, and undermine social harmony and the effectiveness of spiritual civilization construction.
At the same time, the cyberspace department will take the following governance measures: First, increase the intensity of investigation and punishment of illegal accounts and platforms. Strictly crack down on the use of false personas for malicious marketing and misleading netizens in accordance with the law, and severely crack down on the large-scale production of homogeneous false personas through batch production by MCN organizations, multi-account matrix distribution, cross-platform transfer and proliferation, etc. Accounts with egregious nature will be resolutely banned. The second is to strengthen the standard labeling of short video publishing links. Short videos with false personas that are not tagged as required will be dealt with strictly in accordance with the law; website platforms are urged to effectively fulfill their content review obligations, and are not allowed to circumvent the relevant requirements of network ecological governance by using content labels such as fictional deductions, AI generation, marketing, reprints, personal opinions, etc. and declarations of no harmful orientation to prevent the uploading and release of short videos with false personas from the source. The third is to strengthen the presentation management of key sectors. It is strictly prohibited to push short videos with false characters in lists, recommendations, etc. Strengthen qualification review management, and classify areas that currently lack occupational classification, qualification standards, and certification requirements and have room for serious illegal profit-making into daily governance priorities. The fourth is to strengthen measures to protect the rights and interests of specific groups. We must pay close attention to key links such as content creation, traffic distribution, review management, etc., and strictly deal with short videos that falsely create "AI overlords", "health gurus" and other people to deceive the elderly, spread or collect rumors to discredit the image of rural farmers, and pretend to be professionals in the field to mislead netizens, in accordance with laws and regulations.
Relevant responsible comrades from the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission emphasized that local cyberspace departments must fully understand the importance of special actions in promoting the healthy and orderly development of the short video industry and safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of netizens, effectively perform local management responsibilities, supervise website platforms to compare key rectification points, focus on key links and sections for in-depth self-examination and self-correction, comprehensively investigate problem loopholes, improve long-term governance mechanisms, and ensure that special actions achieve effective results.
