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NOPE
Medium reported severity Lawsuit Filed

Beijing Internet Court finds a WeChat group member infringed another member's portrait and reputation by posting AI-made exposed cartoon images of the claimant

The Beijing Internet Court reported in August 2025 that two members of a photography WeChat group had gone to court after one used AI software, without consent, to turn the other's profile portrait photo into revealingly dressed cartoon-style images and posted them in the group. According to the court, the claimant objected several times, but the defendant kept using the software to make images with exposed bodies and deformed limbs, including wooden legs and three arms, and sent them to the claimant privately. The defendant argued the images were not identifiable and were generated automatically by AI. The court found that group members could identify the claimant, that posting the images in the group infringed the claimant's portrait and reputation rights, and that the private messages infringed the claimant's general personality rights. It ordered an apology and compensation for mental harm.

AI system
Unidentified image tool
Occurred
Event date unknown
Reported
22 August 2025
Event location
Unknown
What the AI did
Depicted or impersonated the person
Reported harm
Reputational HarmPsychological Distress
Whose AI use
Someone else’s AI use
Setting
Relationships · Privacy · Justice
Evidence
AI involvement supported · Causal attribution established · 3 sources, 1 underlying account
5 claims: 2 documented, 3 reported. 4 open questions
People reported harmed
1 person

AI system as recorded: AI image software, not named in the court's account, that the defendant used to turn the claimant's profile portrait photo into cartoon-style images with exposed bodies and deformed limbs

What Happened

The images. According to the Beijing Internet Court's account, relayed by Beijing Daily on 22 August 2025 and in more detail by the China IP Lawyer Network, the claimant and the defendant were members of a photography WeChat group. Without consent, the defendant used AI software to turn the claimant's profile portrait photo into revealingly dressed cartoon-style images and posted them in the group, where they prompted discussion. The claimant objected several times. The defendant kept using the software to make cartoon-style images with exposed bodies and deformed limbs, including wooden legs and three arms, and sent them to the claimant in private messages.

The defence. The defendant argued that the images did not point to the claimant and that they were generated automatically by AI without any instruction to uglify.

The ruling. The court found that, despite the change of style, the images matched the photo in face shape, pose, gesture and styling, so group members could identify the claimant. Posting them in the group infringed the claimant's portrait and reputation rights; the private messages, which no third party saw, infringed the claimant's general personality rights by causing humiliation. It held that the defendant, as the user who chose to generate and post the images, bore the liability, and ordered an apology and compensation for mental harm. A judge said that using AI software to mock another person's portrait goes beyond reasonable use of the technology.

Limits. The sources relay the court's own account; the judgment was not inspected. The parties are anonymised, and the dates of the images and of the judgment, the amount awarded and the AI software are not reported.

Reported harm

According to the Beijing Internet Court's account, AI-made images of a WeChat group member with an exposed body and deformed limbs were posted in the group and sent privately against the claimant's objections; the court found that they lowered the claimant's social standing, caused humiliation and infringed the claimant's portrait, reputation and personality rights.

Outcome

Resolved

The Beijing Internet Court found portrait, reputation and general personality-rights infringement and ordered the defendant to apologise and to compensate the claimant for mental harm (court account relayed by Beijing Daily, 22 August 2025). The court's own write-up says the judgment has taken effect; the amount and the case number are not reported.

What remains unknown

  • When the images were made and posted, and when the judgment was given.
  • Which AI software was used.
  • The amount of compensation for mental harm and the case number.
  • How many members the group had.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: supported. The court found that the defendant used AI software to generate the images from the claimant's profile portrait photo, and the defendant's own defence said the images were generated by AI. The generated images depicted the claimant (depicted_or_impersonated); the court found that posting them lowered the claimant's standing in the group and that the private images caused humiliation.

5 claims: 2 documented, 3 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported Without consent, the defendant used AI software to turn the claimant's WeChat profile portrait photo into revealingly dressed cartoon-style images and posted them in a photography WeChat group both belonged to.

Causal attribution. Court account; the AI generation is also the defendant's own description in the defence.

  • xinwen.bjd.com.cn(opens in new tab) supports · Chinese
    '被告未经原告同意，使用AI软件将原告微信头像肖像照生成衣着暴露的动漫风格图片，并发送至该摄影交流微信群内'
  • xinwen.bjd.com.cn(opens in new tab) supports · Chinese
    '被告拿群内原告微信头像照片，利用AI生成衣着暴露、形体畸形的动漫图片'
Reported After the claimant objected several times, the defendant kept using the AI software to make images with exposed bodies and deformed limbs, including wooden legs and three arms, and sent them to the claimant privately.

Causal attribution. Court account.

Reported The defendant argued that the images were not identifiable as the claimant and were generated automatically by AI without any instruction to uglify.

Causal attribution. Defendant's submission as summarised by the court.

  • xinwen.bjd.com.cn(opens in new tab) supports · Chinese
    '被诉侵权图片不具有指向性或可识别性'; '图片为AI自动生成，被告生成图片时并未下达任何指令故意丑化人物形象'
Documented The court found that group members could identify the claimant from the images, that posting them in the group infringed the claimant's portrait and reputation rights, and that the private messages infringed the claimant's general personality rights.

Causal attribution. The Beijing Internet Court's own published write-up of its findings (s2, credited to the court); the judgment itself was not inspected.

Documented The court ordered the defendant to apologise and to compensate the claimant for mental harm.

Causal attribution. The Beijing Internet Court's own published write-up (s2), which also says the judgment has taken effect; the amount is not reported.

Sources

3 sources inspected, from 1 underlying account. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read in the original Chinese on 2026-10-22 (HTTP 200). English renderings in this record are the research agent's (an AI's) own translations; no human translator reviewed them. Beijing Daily report of the Beijing Internet Court's notice of the case; the judgment was not inspected. Applies to s1.

Read in the original Chinese on 2026-10-22 (HTTP 200). English renderings in this record are the research agent's (an AI's) own translations; no human translator reviewed them. Legal-industry site carrying the court's fuller write-up of the reasoning; same court account. Applies to s2.

Read in the original Chinese on 2026-10-22 (HTTP 200). English renderings in this record are the research agent's (an AI's) own translations; no human translator reviewed them. Feature on the Beijing Internet Court quoting its vice-president; it restates the case. Applies to s3.

Event countries: Unknown. Affected-person countries: Unknown. Court countries: China.

The case was decided by the Beijing Internet Court in China. The sources describe a WeChat group but do not say where its members were, so no event or affected-person country is recorded.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-22: Published as a core case (depicted_or_impersonated): the Beijing Internet Court found that AI-generated images made from a group member's profile photo, posted in a WeChat group and sent privately, infringed the claimant's portrait, reputation and personality rights. One reporting chain, the court's own account, read in three Chinese sources.

People described

A member of a photography WeChat group whose profile portrait photo was used (anonymised by the court)

People reported harmed in this case

1 person

0 AI participants · 1 other person harmed

One person, the claimant whose profile photo was used (Beijing Internet Court account). Exact 1.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#ai-image#portrait-rights#reputation#wechat#court-ruling#beijing#china

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Beijing Internet Court finds a WeChat group member infringed another member's portrait and reputation by posting AI-made exposed cartoon images of the claimant. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2025-beijing-internet-court-finds-wechat-group-member-used-ai-to-turn-anothers-profile-photo-into-exposed-deformed-images

BibTeX

@misc{2025_beijing_internet_court_finds_wechat_group_member_used_ai_to_turn_anothers_profile_photo_into_exposed_deformed_images,
  title = {Beijing Internet Court finds a WeChat group member infringed another member's portrait and reputation by posting AI-made exposed cartoon images of the claimant},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2025-beijing-internet-court-finds-wechat-group-member-used-ai-to-turn-anothers-profile-photo-into-exposed-deformed-images}
}

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