Tencent’s WeChat requires disclosure of AI-generated content to combat misinformation

WeChat’s updated moderation policy states: ‘If the content is AI-generated, it must be labelled.’

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WeChat’s updated content-moderation policy forms part of a broader industry effort to promote greater transparency of artificial intelligence-generated content. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 5:30pm, 6 Jun 2024

Tencent Holdings’ ubiquitous super app, WeChat, is now requiring all creators on the platform to disclose whether a published post was generated using artificial intelligence (AI) technology, months after China’s internet regulator cracked down on such “unlabelled and likely misleading” content.

“If the content is AI-generated, it must be labelled,” WeChat said on Wednesday via its content-security account, Shanhu – the Chinese word for “coral”.

The super app, marketed as Weixin on the mainland, will help identify AI-generated content (AIGC) on the platform by displaying the relevant tag at the bottom of a published post.

WeChat users are also required to describe whether any posted content is a work of fiction, and disclose sources – including authoritative media or professional entities – when the information is related to “domestic and international current affairs, public policies and social events”. The platform said it disapproves of all unethical practices to generate online traffic.

WeChat, marketed as Weixin on the mainland, helps identify artificial intelligence-generated content on the platform by displaying the relevant tag at the bottom of a published post. Photo: Shutterstock

The updated content-moderation policy of WeChat forms part of a broader industry effort to promote greater AIGC transparency, while protecting internet users from online abuse, scams and misinformation.

Major domestic and international social media operations – including Bilibili, ByteDance-owned Douyin and TikTok, Google’s YouTube and Facebook owner Meta Platforms – have implemented similar measures on AIGC.