China to ban the publishing of fake news and deepfakes online

A report by Reuters on Saturday revealed that China is planning to end the spread of fake news by completing banning the content online.

According to the publication, new online regulations ban the publishing of fake audio and visual content, as well as fake content created by AI and virtual reality.

This means that, together with fake news, deep fake media will also be banned.

Additionally, Reuters also revealed that the ban will require publications to mark any content that includes fake material. This means that fake news will have to be clearly identifiable online.

Deep fake technology has recently come under fire for spreading false news and endangering people online. Twitter, for one, recently revealed new policies aimed at identifying and removing the content from its platform.

Earlier this year, a Chinese face-swapping app called Zao also went viral for swapping regular users faces with the faces of celebrities.

China’s new regulations, meanwhile, will be implemented on 1 January 2020.

Feature image: the Zao app, by Andy Walker/Memeburn