Last week, Jitterbug announced in a statement that it had indefinitely banned a man's account for "driving traffic" by impersonating a Russian soldier. The man's name was "Paul Korchagin," apparently inspired by Pavel Korchagin, the protagonist of How Steel is Made.

In his video, the man identifies himself as a soldier in the Chechen special forces and claims he is at the nuclear power plant in Kharkiv, Ukraine. He also claimed to have seized the Ukrainian president's car and captured American soldiers alive. Through these videos, he sells Russian goods such as vodka and honey on his online store.

However, his true identity is eventually revealed. Viewers note that his accent and his IP address indicate that he is actually in Henan Province, China. His so-called "nuclear power plant" was actually a power plant in Luoyang, Henan Province. Chinese media outlet Sixth Tone reported that he used Deepfake technology and artificial intelligence tools to alter his appearance and create a false identity.

After being exposed, "Paul Kochatie" deleted all of his movies and changed his account name to "Wang Antimei". This isn't the first time Chinese content creators have used their foreign identities to make money online. Last year, a woman claiming to be Russian also became popular on social media and sold a large number of items, but was eventually revealed to be Chinese and had her account blocked.

In order to combat such behavior, late last year China's National Internet Information Office issued the Administrative Provisions on Depth Synthesis of Internet Information Services, which require depth synthesis service providers to "take timely measures to dispel rumors" if they discover that their services are being used to produce and disseminate false information. The regulations also require that, when providing voice synthesis and face replacement services, the generated information content should be labeled at a "reasonable location". [Read More]