A Chinese model has said she plans to sue the makers of an AI-generated microdrama and its platform after discovering that her face had been used without permission in a series she says portrayed her as a cruel villain. Christine Li, who lives in Hangzhou and works as a model and influencer, told AFP she recognised herself immediately in The Peach Blossom Hairpin, which appeared on Hongguo, a short-video drama platform owned by ByteDance. She said the likeness appeared to come from photos she had posted online two years earlier.

Li is one of two people who said they were drawn into the production without consent. The other, a stylist who specialises in traditional Chinese dress and make-up and gave his name as Baicai, said he was cast as Li’s AI husband and depicted as a sleazy antagonist. Both said the portrayals left them worried about reputational damage and the possibility that the incident could affect future work.

The dispute has exposed a fast-moving legal grey area in China’s booming microdrama market, where creators increasingly use AI to cut costs and speed up production. According to the report by the South China Morning Post’s AFP dispatch, Hongguo said in April that it had taken the series down after the producers violated platform rules and contractual obligations. TechNode later reported that the platform’s review found the producer had failed to show compliant use of the disputed facial images, while other Chinese outlets said the production account was suspended for 15 days.

The case has also revived broader concerns about deepfakes and the misuse of AI-generated faces. Industry observers quoted in the AFP report said China’s rules place primary responsibility on platforms to review questionable content, while lawyers warned that unauthorised use of a person’s image can amount to an infringement of portrait and reputation rights. Hongguo has said it has already removed hundreds of AI microdramas for regulatory breaches and promised tougher checks, as authorities continue to press platforms and producers to verify rights before publication.

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Source: Noah Wire Services