China regulates ``digital human'' using virtual avatars such as Vtuber



Projects by individual distributors and companies called 'VTubers' that reflect human movements in 2D and 3D avatars when posting videos and streaming distribution are popular content not only in Japan but around the world. . Especially in China, we are focusing on business using virtual avatars, and in the 'four-year action plan' announced by the Beijing municipal government in early August 2022, virtual avatars such as Vtubers will be introduced. He laid out a plan to regulate and promote “digital humans” using

Beijing will regulate “digital humans” like VTubers and virtual influencers in the metaverse and beyond - Rest of World

https://restofworld.org/2022/beijing-digital-humans-metaverse/

Beijing Municipal Information Bureau Notice_Policy Documents_Beijing Municipal Information Bureau
http://jxj.beijing.gov.cn/zwgk/zcwj/bjszc/202208/t20220805_2787349.html

The action plan formulated by the Beijing Municipal Government in early August 2022 is titled 'Beijing Action Plan for Promoting Innovation and Development of the Digital Human Industry' and includes the objective of promoting investment in the digital human industry. increase. This action plan is a way for the Chinese authorities to convey technological development and industry priorities, which has a considerable impact on corporate policies. The definition of 'digital humans' included in the action plan is not clear, but analysts studying China's technology policy have suggested that they range from avatars used in online games and the metaverse to human-like AYAYIs and others. It is said that it targets everything from virtual influencers of , to virtual idols and Vtubers such as Luo Tenyi.



Analysts responded to Beijing's 'Digital Human Plan' by stressing that the existence of the plan is significant and that it is important that the Chinese government recognizes the value and potential of the digital human industry. I'm here. ``In China, the government will delve deeper into the industry itself, which most other governments have not yet acknowledged,'' said Liu Hanyu, who analyzes China's metaverse and gaming industry.

China's digital human industry is expected to grow explosively, with the market size expected to reach $7.3 billion (approximately 1.02 trillion yen) in revenue by 2025 in Beijing alone. On the other hand, as the value of Vtubers and virtual influencers rises, the labor situation of 'people inside' who move 'virtual avatars' has become a problem. Around the spring of 2022, members of the increasingly popular Chinese VTuber group suspended their activities and exposed harsh working conditions, sparking a debate about Vtuber's working environment.

In the rapidly growing Chinese Vtuber industry, the harsh working environment of ``middle people'' is becoming a problem-GIGAZINE



Based on these discussions, Beijing's Digital Human Plan mainly raises the themes of 'personal information security' and 'sound and orderly development of society.' According to Liu, this will inevitably involve censorship, and governments will likely have specific ideas in place to get the industry to the point they want it to be. ``We are isolating and centralizing China's metaverse and digital ecosystem from overseas,'' Liu said.

According to Mr. Liu, it is highly likely that the ``identification card'' will be linked to online games and Metaverse avatars, which are part of the digital human industry. This helps deter fraud, misinformation, and other harmful issues in real-time interactions, while all data collected from playing and interacting in games and the metaverse is You will connect with life.


by mosakaeru mosakaeru

'The Chinese government is taking advantage of growing interest in the digital human industry to attract talent and investment in related technologies,' said Chen Qiheng, who analyzed China's technology policy for the DigiChina project at Stanford University. is an effort to create industrial clusters of contiguous industries such as virtual reality, machine and deep learning, computer graphics, human-computer interaction and all related underlying design software.” doing.

It is also expected that the digital human plan will improve the working environment for Vtubers by inflowing funds from the government into the industry, but on the other hand, more funding will be provided to high-tech companies related to digital humans than virtual idols. There is also a possibility that Mengyu Peng, branding director at SuperACG , which provides the virtual avatar service VTmini , said, ``For companies that do not make profits from digital humans alone, applying digital humans to branding, e-commerce, and marketing is a big deal. It's a point of focus, but the digital human is just a tool for them.'

in Note, Posted by log1e_dh