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High reported severity Criminal Charges

Jiangsu, China (Zhangjiagang court): a man used AI face-swap deep-synthesis to splice the faces of a person referred to as Yu and several others onto pornographic images, fabricated 'sexual' stories about them and posted the material repeatedly on overseas websites between April 2024 and January 2025; after two face-swapped nude images of Yu and Yu's ID were forwarded to Yu's work WeChat group with a fabricated claim of sex-for-money transactions, he was convicted of criminal defamation and sentenced to one year and three months (1 December 2025), upheld on appeal and listed by the Jiangsu High People's Court among its 2025 typical cases

According to the Jiangsu High People's Court's 2025 top-ten typical cases, published on 27 January 2026 and reported by The Paper, a man surnamed Wang used the deep-synthesis technology of AI software between April 2024 and January 2025 to splice the facial information of a person (pseudonym Yu) and several other people onto pornographic images, fabricated a large number of indecent images and 'sexual' topics about them, and repeatedly spread them in public posts on overseas websites. On 5 January 2025 he sent two AI face-swapped nude images bearing Yu's face and images of Yu's identity documents to a second man (dealt with separately) and fabricated the claim that he had had a sex-for-money transaction with Yu; although the second man said he would forward the material to Yu's work WeChat group, Wang did not clarify that it was false or effectively stop him, only deleting the contact. The second man forwarded the images to the WeChat group and claimed there that Yu sold sex, prompting extensive discussion inside and outside the group and, the court found, adverse effects on Yu's personal image, work and life, a serious lowering of Yu's social evaluation and a violation of Yu's dignity. The Zhangjiagang People's Court held that using deep-synthesis technology that ordinary people cannot easily identify to generate indecent images and fabricate sexual topics, spread repeatedly through information networks, was defamation of serious circumstances that seriously harmed social order; taking into account his voluntary surrender, it sentenced him on 1 December 2025 to one year and three months' imprisonment for defamation. The Suzhou Intermediate People's Court rejected his appeal. The High Court described the case as a typical example of punishing online defamation committed with AI.

AI system
Unidentified image tool
Occurred
1 Apr 2024 to 5 Jan 2025
Reported
27 January 2026
Event location
Unknown
What the AI did
Depicted or impersonated the person
Reported harm
Exploitation or AbuseReputational Harm
Whose AI use
Someone else’s AI use
Setting
Work · Everyday life · Justice
Evidence
AI involvement supported · Causal attribution established · 1 source
3 claims: 3 reported. 8 open questions
People reported harmed
At least 1 person

AI system as recorded: AI deep-synthesis ('face-swap') software; not identified in the court's account

What Happened

The Paper (27 January 2026, reporter 邱海鸿) reported that the Jiangsu High People's Court had that day published its ten typical cases of 2025, among them the defamation case of Wang (王某甲), who was sentenced to one year and three months' imprisonment for defamation. According to the court, between April 2024 and January 2025 Wang used the deep-synthesis technology of AI software to splice the facial information of Yu (a pseudonym) and several other people with pornographic images, forged a large number of indecent images, fabricated 'sexual' topics about Yu and others, and spread them many times in public posts on overseas websites. On 5 January 2025 Wang sent two nude images with Yu's AI-swapped face and images of Yu's identity documents to another man (Wang B, handled in a separate case) and fabricated the false information that he and Yu had had a sexual transaction; although Wang B said he would forward the content to Yu's work WeChat group, Wang did not clarify that it was false or effectively prevent the forwarding, merely deleting Wang B's WeChat contact. Wang B then forwarded the images to the WeChat group and claimed in it that Yu had sex transactions with others, provoking discussion by many people inside and outside the group and bringing adverse effects to Yu's personal image, work and life, seriously lowering Yu's social evaluation and infringing Yu's dignity. The Zhangjiagang People's Court found at first instance that Wang had used deep-synthesis technology that ordinary members of the public cannot easily identify to generate indecent images of others and fabricate sexual topics, defaming others many times through information networks, with serious circumstances that seriously endangered social order, constituting the crime of defamation; weighing the nature, means and social harm of the crime and statutory and discretionary lenient circumstances including his voluntary surrender, on 1 December 2025 it sentenced Wang to one year and three months' imprisonment. Wang appealed; the Suzhou Intermediate People's Court rejected the appeal and upheld the original judgment. The court said the case is a typical example of courts punishing online defamation committed with artificial intelligence, warning that generative AI can be used to fabricate and spread rumours that are hard to detect and spread widely.

Reported harm

The face of a person (pseudonym Yu) was AI-swapped onto pornographic images that were posted repeatedly on overseas websites and then forwarded to Yu's workplace WeChat group with a fabricated claim that she sold sex; the court found adverse effects on Yu's image, work and life, a serious lowering of Yu's social evaluation and a violation of Yu's personal dignity. The court's findings are relayed by The Paper; the judgment itself was not inspected.

Outcome

Resolved

Zhangjiagang Municipal People's Court, first instance 1 December 2025: guilty of defamation (诽谤罪), one year and three months' fixed-term imprisonment, voluntary surrender treated as a mitigating circumstance; the court held the circumstances serious and social order seriously harmed. Appeal rejected by the Suzhou Intermediate People's Court, judgment upheld. Selected by the Jiangsu High People's Court on 27 January 2026 as one of its ten typical cases of 2025. The second man who forwarded the images is being dealt with in a separate case.

What remains unknown

  • The AI software used and the overseas websites.
  • How many other people's faces were used besides Yu.
  • The outcome of the separate case against the man who forwarded the images.
  • Whether Yu obtained civil compensation.
  • The judgment texts were not inspected; Chinese read by the model without human bilingual review.
  • Yu's sex and age are not stated in the cited body (于某, 其); earlier uncited reporting described a woman; victim_age_range adult is inferred from the work WeChat group.
  • Where the events took place and where Yu and the defendant live; the body names only the courts.
  • The conduct period is stated as ending in January 2025; 5 January 2025 is the last dated act and is used as the end date.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: supported. The court found that the defendant used the deep-synthesis technology of AI software to splice the victims' faces onto pornographic images (The Paper relaying the Jiangsu High People's Court). The software is not identified.

3 claims: 3 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported Between April 2024 and January 2025 Wang used the deep-synthesis technology of AI software to splice the facial information of Yu (pseudonym) and several other people onto pornographic images, forged a large number of indecent images, fabricated 'sexual' topics about them and spread them repeatedly in public posts on overseas websites.

Causal attribution. The court's account of the facts as published by the Jiangsu High People's Court and relayed by The Paper.

  • thepaper.cn(opens in new tab) supports · Chinese
    '2024年4月至2025年1月间，王某甲利用AI软件的深度合成技术，将于某（系化名）等多人的人脸信息与色情图片进行拼接，伪造大量不雅图片'; '多次在境外网站以公开发帖的形式予以散布。'
Reported On 5 January 2025 he sent two AI face-swapped nude images bearing Yu's face and images of Yu's identity documents to a second man with a fabricated claim that he had had a sex-for-money transaction with Yu; the second man forwarded them to Yu's work WeChat group and claimed there that Yu engaged in sex-for-money transactions with others, which the court found caused extensive discussion and adverse effects on Yu's image, work and life, seriously lowering Yu's social evaluation and violating Yu's dignity.

Causal attribution. Court findings relayed by The Paper.

  • thepaper.cn(opens in new tab) supports · Chinese
    '2025年1月5日，王某甲又将两张AI换脸后面部为于某的裸照和于某有关证件图片发送给王某乙（另案处理），并捏造自己与于某存在性交易的不实信息。'; '后王某乙将上述图片转发至微信群，并在群里声称于某与他人存在性交易，引发群内外大量人员讨论，给于某的个人形象、工作、生活带来不利影响'
Reported The Zhangjiagang People's Court convicted him of defamation on 1 December 2025 and sentenced him to one year and three months' imprisonment, treating his voluntary surrender as mitigation; the Suzhou Intermediate People's Court rejected his appeal; on 27 January 2026 the Jiangsu High People's Court listed the case among its ten typical cases of 2025.

Causal attribution. Court decisions as published by the High Court and relayed by The Paper; the written judgments were not inspected.

  • thepaper.cn(opens in new tab) supports · Chinese
    '张家港市人民法院于2025年12月1日作出一审判决，以诽谤罪判处被告人王某甲有期徒刑一年三个月。'; '宣判后，王某甲提出上诉。苏州市中级人民法院依法作出二审裁定，驳回上诉，维持原判。'; '1月27日，江苏省高级人民法院公布2025年度十大典型案例'

Sources

1 source inspected. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read live in Chinese on 2026-09-23 (The Paper, 邱海鸿, 27 January 2026 19:07); relays the Jiangsu High People's Court's 2025 top-ten typical cases publication. The court judgment itself was not inspected. Model reading; no human bilingual review. Applies to s1.

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

The Paper's account of the court's findings states no event location or residence for Yu or the defendant; the posts were made on overseas websites and the forwarding was to a WeChat work group. Under the charter a country is not inferred from the court, so event and affected-person countries are left empty as a reviewed unknown. Court: Zhangjiagang Municipal People's Court and Suzhou Intermediate People's Court, Jiangsu, China.

Reviewed for publication 2026-09-23: Restored under the 2026-09-15 charter as a harmful-artifact case with a criminal conviction: AI face-swapped pornographic images of a person forwarded to their workplace, with court findings of harm to their image, work, life and dignity, as published by the Jiangsu High People's Court and relayed by The Paper (one chain; all claims reported). The original ID and first-publication timestamp are preserved; the sentence and dates correct the historical row; the victim's sex, previously asserted, is not in the cited body and is recorded as unknown. The victim is identified only by a court pseudonym.

People described

A person referred to by the pseudonym Yu, whose face was spliced onto nude images that were posted on overseas sites and forwarded to Yu's work WeChat group with fabricated claims; the court also refers to several other people whose faces were used. None is named

People reported harmed in this case

At least 1 person

0 AI participants · 1 other person harmed

Additional affected people are described without a reliable count.

One identified victim (Yu, pseudonym) whose images reached her work group; the court states that several other people's faces were also used (于某等多人) without a number. Partial: 1 counted plus unquantified others.

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

Tags

#criminal#deepfake#face-swap#defamation#china#jiangsu#non-consensual-images#conviction#workplace

Cite this case

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

APA

NOPE. (2026). Jiangsu, China (Zhangjiagang court): a man used AI face-swap deep-synthesis to splice the faces of a person referred to as Yu and several others onto pornographic images, fabricated 'sexual' stories about them and posted the material repeatedly on overseas websites between April 2024 and January 2025; after two face-swapped nude images of Yu and Yu's ID were forwarded to Yu's work WeChat group with a fabricated claim of sex-for-money transactions, he was convicted of criminal defamation and sentenced to one year and three months (1 December 2025), upheld on appeal and listed by the Jiangsu High People's Court among its 2025 typical cases. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-china-wang-ai-faceswap-defamation

BibTeX

@misc{2026_china_wang_ai_faceswap_defamation,
  title = {Jiangsu, China (Zhangjiagang court): a man used AI face-swap deep-synthesis to splice the faces of a person referred to as Yu and several others onto pornographic images, fabricated 'sexual' stories about them and posted the material repeatedly on overseas websites between April 2024 and January 2025; after two face-swapped nude images of Yu and Yu's ID were forwarded to Yu's work WeChat group with a fabricated claim of sex-for-money transactions, he was convicted of criminal defamation and sentenced to one year and three months (1 December 2025), upheld on appeal and listed by the Jiangsu High People's Court among its 2025 typical cases},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-china-wang-ai-faceswap-defamation}
}

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