China summons 11 firms including Alibaba, Tencent on 'deepfake' tech

Chinese regulators summoned 11 local technology companies to discuss security assessments and potential problems for using ‘deepfake’ technologies on their content platforms.

Those summoned include Alibaba Group, Tencent, ByteDance, Kuaishou Technology, and Xiaomi Corp.

The companies were tasked to conduct security assessments and submit reports when they plan to add new functions or new information services that could mobilize society.

Using artificial intelligence, deepfake creates hyper-realistic videos or audios that make it appear that somebody did or said something.

China cited concerns over monopolistic behavior and potential consumer rights infringement in increasing its scrutiny of internet giants.

There has been a surge in China of Clubhouse audio app imitations since the US-based chat service was blocked last month.

Clubhouse attracted discussions on sensitive topics such as Xinjiang detention camps and Hong Kong independence.

TikTok owner ByteDance is among those working on Clubhouse-like apps for the Chinese market.