China launches months-long campaign against AI misuse targeting deepfakes, fraud, and disinformation

The Cyberspace Administration’s annual ‘Qinglang’ campaign arrives in a materially different regulatory environment to last year’s edition, and in the same week the White House accused China of running ‘industrial-scale’ AI theft operations.

China has launched a months-long enforcement campaign targeting the misuse of artificial intelligence, according to Reuters.

The campaign, initiated by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) and coordinated with the Ministry of Public Security and other agencies, targets AI-enabled fraud, deepfakes, disinformation, and illegal applications that violate privacy and intellectual property rights.

The action is the 2026 edition of what has become an annual enforcement mechanism, the ‘Qinglang’ (Clear and Bright) special campaign series. Its immediate predecessor, launched on 30 April 2025 and titled ‘Rectification of AI Technology Misuse,’ ran for three months across two phases.

By the time its first phase concluded in June 2025, authorities had taken down more than 3,500 AI-related ...