--- title: "Top Chinese Court Issues Sweeping Legal Crackdown on AI Deepfakes" description: "The Supreme People's Court of China has released a 24-part guiding opinion on how lower courts should handle cases of AI-abuse." date: "2026-09-11" modified: "2026-09-11" authors: - name: "Joe Wilkins" job_title: "Correspondent" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jwilkins.md" url: "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/chinese-supreme-peoples-court-legal-guidance-ai-deepfakes" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Cybersecurity" - "Data Privacy" - "Ethics" - "Future Society" --- # Top Chinese Court Issues Sweeping Legal Crackdown on AI Deepfakes ![A gavel and legal scales set before a Chinese flag.]() *Shutterstock / New Africa* Months after China's Intermediate People's Court [ruled against a company]() using AI to liquidate an employee's position, the country's highest judicial body has come out with another whopper: a massive crackdown on AI deepfakes. In a new ruling on Monday, China's Supreme People's Court — the top judicial organ in the country — issued new guidance on how judges in lower courts should handle civil issues arising from abuse of AI tools. As the [*South China Morning Post* reports](), the court's opinion spans 24 articles, establishing official guidance on disputes around AI-generated video and audio, sexualized content, financial misconduct, digital privacy, and surveillance pricing. One of the key platforms of the opinion revolves around deepfakes, which are lifelike images, video, and audio modeled after existing people — tech, as the ruling observes, that can easily be used to "bring the dead back to life." This kind of content has exploded across the internet as sophisticated generative AI models become increasingly accessible to the general public, resulting in a staggering rise in [scams,]() [misinformation](), and [abusive content](). "In practice, many people express their strong concerns about AI deepfakes. AI face-swapping technology can indiscriminately harvest anyone's likeness, making ordinary people potential targets of deepfakes," Si Yanli, deputy head of the Supreme People's Court's research office, [said in a statement](). "AI voice cloning technology can also 'steal' voices at a very low cost, with results that can be convincingly realistic." Now, the *SCMP* notes that courts across the People's Republic are being advised to view disputes around such content with an eye toward protecting individual identities, personal traits, and reputations. Beyond abuses of AI, the new opinion also includes guidance on cases of doxing, or the practice of obtaining and spreading others' personal information online. "Doxing has emerged as a prominent form of cyberbullying, gravely violating victims' privacy, disturbing their daily lives and eroding public security in cyberspace," Si explained. It's worth noting that China uses a civil law system, so courts don't follow the common-law principle of *stare decisis*. This means that, unlike the US, lower Chinese courts aren't automatically [bound by precedent]() set by other court rulings. However, guidance issued by the Supreme People's Court carries [significant legal weight](), with lower court bodies required to refer to such opinions in their own rulings — making the recent issuance a hefty rebuff against potential abuses of AI. **More on AI regulation:** *[Dozens of Humanoid Robots Gather for a Protest, Marching and Waving Signs]()* ## Author At Futurism, I focus on the intersection of technology and power — examining the economics, history, and politics behind today’s dystopian headlines. As a writer, I’m interested in topics ranging from AI’s impact on labor to startups nobody asked for. My prior work includes bylines in Jacobin, Verso, and Blue Labyrinths. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Forbes, The Guardian, MIT Technology Review, Time, The Nation, Mother Jones, The Verge, and Wired. I grew up in Michigan, attending Central Michigan University as well as Ball State University, where I earned a master of music. I now live in Brooklyn with my girlfriend and our cat Ziti. On weekends, you can find me hunched over a cold pint arguing geopolitics with the other transplants. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()