Beijing (AFP)

China has new rules prohibiting online video and audio providers from using artificial intelligence and virtual reality technologies to produce "false information".

The regulation, released Friday by the Chinese Cyberspace Administration (CAC), comes into force on January 1, 2020. Any offense will be considered a criminal offense, said the CAC without specifying the penalties incurred.

The new regulation states that providers and users of online video and audio services are "not allowed" to use new technologies such as deep learning or virtual reality in order to create, distribute and disseminate "false information".

It requires clear warnings to users of any audio or video material produced using artificial intelligence or virtual reality techniques.

The regulation emphasizes the dangers of "deepfake" which allows fake and hyper-realistic videos to proliferate on the net.

These artificial intelligence technologies could "disrupt the social order and violate the interests of the population by creating political risks and inflicting a negative impact on national security and social stability," she warns.

Concerns about "deepfakes" have increased since the election campaign for the US presidential election in 2016.

In September, the huge success of a new Chinese mobile application of video stuff, Zao, to put his face in the place of that of movie stars has caused an uproar because of potential breaches of privacy.

The company had to change its terms of use and promise to remove from its servers any content that has been deleted by users. Zao is the property of the popular Nasdaq-listed Chinese dating application Momo.

© 2019 AFP