Chongqing authorities investigate AI-generated false car advertising
Chongqing authorities discovered an auto company used AI to generate entirely synthetic marketing videos showing crowds of consumers queuing to buy a new electric vehicle, with fabricated sales scenes and misleading promotional content spread on social media. The company failed to properly label the AI-generated content, violating advertising and AI content labeling regulations. The case represents Chongqing's first investigation of AI-generated false advertising designed to deceive consumers into believing the vehicle was in high demand.
What happened
Chongqing Liangjiang New District Market Supervision Bureau discovered an unnamed auto company used AI generation technology to produce and distribute marketing videos for a new electric vehicle model.
The videos fabricated scenes of consumers visiting dealerships, queuing to purchase vehicles, and created promotional messaging such as 'oil prices rising, XX model selling crazy.' All people, purchasing behavior, and dealership activity in the videos were AI-synthesized; no actual sales transactions occurred.
The company spread the videos widely via WeChat and other online platforms. The regulations require AI-generated commercial content to display prominent labeling stating 'content generated by AI' and embed digital watermarks, but the company only added #AI# hashtags to some videos without proper standardized identification.
Reported impact
The synthetic videos misled consumers into believing the vehicle model was in high demand and facing supply shortages, inducing them to follow trends in purchasing decisions.
The case represents Chongqing's first instance of AI-generated content fabricating commercial scenarios to deceive consumers, with characteristics of 'fully AI-generated, purely fictional scenarios, no real actors,' making it more deceptive and faster-spreading than traditional false advertising.
Index analysis
The bureau identified two violations: false advertising under Article 28 of the Advertising Law, as the company used AI to forge vehicle sales scenes and fabricate consumer behavior through misleading promotional content; and failure to comply with mandatory AI content labeling requirements under the Artificial Intelligence Generated Content Labeling Methods and Internet Advertising Recognizability Enforcement Guidelines.
Governance controls
Regulators stated that AI is a normal technical tool that may legally be used for creative advertising and content optimization, but cannot serve as a shield for false marketing and irregular promotion.
The bureau announced it will focus on AI advertising and short-video marketing in new business sectors, strengthening online advertisement monitoring and cracking down on illegal use of AI to fabricate scenarios, forge data, and mislead consumers.
Classification
Sources and evidence
Sources not yet published
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