China strengthens regulation of “virtual humans” and bans addictive services for children
Monday, Apr/13/2026 - 17:38
(L&D) - Chinese lawmakers have introduced a draft law to regulate “virtual humans” — AI-generated characters — while simultaneously tightening measures to protect children from services with addictive potential.
The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) has proposed regulations requiring “virtual humans,” such as virtual hosts, virtual assistants, and virtual content creators, to be clearly labeled. At the same time, the CAC strictly prohibits the provision of AI-based services with potential negative impacts to children under the age of 18. Accordingly, service providers are required to prevent and remove inappropriate, addictive, horror, violent, or discriminatory content based on ethnicity or region. In addition, these entities are encouraged to adopt necessary measures to support users in cases where unintended consequences arise.
The new regulations also prohibit the use of personal information to create virtual humans without consent, as well as the use of virtual humans to bypass identity verification systems. Acts involving the use of virtual humans to disseminate harmful content, threaten national security, undermine national unity, promote violence, or engage in similar conduct are likewise strictly banned.
These regulations reflect China’s efforts to govern artificial intelligence, a rapidly developing field with far-reaching impacts that brings significant societal benefits while also posing substantial challenges to existing legal frameworks at both national and international levels. This move takes place as China accelerates the application of AI across the entire economy, in line with the direction set out in its newly issued five-year development plan. At the same time, the country is strengthening regulatory measures for this industry to ensure safety and alignment with societal values.
Previously, China issued regulations on algorithms in 2022, requiring platforms to register and control content recommendation systems while limiting negative impacts on users. This was followed by regulations on deep synthesis (deepfake) technologies, effective from 2023, which imposed requirements for labeling AI-generated content to avoid confusion with authentic information. Regulations on generative artificial intelligence, also issued in 2023, emphasized corporate responsibility in content control and ensuring that AI products comply with social norms. In the area of child protection, China has also implemented measures such as limiting video game usage time for minors. Compared to earlier regulations, the new policy indicates an expansion of the regulatory scope to AI applications, including “virtual humans,” while also increasing accountability requirements for service providers.
These regulations are expected to enhance oversight of AI applications in the context of rapidly advancing technologies such as virtual humans, which are increasingly widespread. The requirement for labeling and clearer assignment of responsibilities to service providers may help mitigate the risk of misinformation while improving transparency in the digital environment.
At the same time, stricter content controls and enhanced protection for minors are seen as steps to reduce the negative impacts of technology on vulnerable groups. However, the new regulatory requirements may also increase compliance costs for businesses, particularly in relation to content moderation and the operation of AI systems.
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