Red Fruit Short Drama Removes AI Drama 'The Peach Hairpin': Producer Involved in Face-Stealing Infringement Suspended

On April 3rd, the short drama platform Hongguo Short Drama officially announced a notice, stating that it would completely remove the AI short drama "The Peach Hairpin" and impose a 15-day suspension on the production company's ability to upload episodes. This removal originated from multiple bloggers' complaints that the drama used their facial images without authorization during production and involved caricaturing characters. Within the 72-hour review period provided by the platform, the production company was found to have failed to prove the legality of the material usage and was therefore deemed to have violated content compliance regulations.

The incident began on March 31st, when the topic "AI short dramas stealing faces" sparked widespread public discussion. Victims included the Hanfu blogger "Bai Cai" and the model "Qihai," who both pointed out that their makeup and facial features were highly accurately replicated by AI and integrated into the drama. This case once again brought attention to the legal boundaries of image rights in the use of generative AI technology in film and television creation. Experts pointed out that the core of AI image right infringement lies in "identifiability" rather than the technical means. Even if the production party claims that the images were randomly generated by software, if the result closely resembles real people and the independence of the creation cannot be proven, they still bear the responsibility for infringement.

As generative AI becomes more embedded in the micro-short drama industry, the difficulty of identifying materials and the hidden nature of infringement have become new challenges for industry governance. This incident marks a further tightening of AI content review by mainstream short drama platforms. Under the industry trend of cost reduction and efficiency improvement, how to balance the application of AI technology with the legal red lines of copyright and image rights has become a key issue for the sustainable development of the AI content ecosystem.