Tech-crazed Chinese are selling — and stealing — human faces. Are we next?

Some people turn to deliveries, others choose Uber; in China, regular people can sell their faces.

Both face-selling and face-stealing are on the rise in China, with significant controversies coming out of some high-profile cases.

'Coffee break? Between meetings? Turn those extra minutes into edge-of-your-seat moments.'

On Chinese websites like New Claw, regular people can upload their photos to license their likeness for AI and subsequent use in films, TV shows, or video games.

The platforms feature catalogs of user images, from self-taken photos or studios. Producers or filmmakers can then browse faces by age, gender, and descriptive categories like "supermodel."

On these websites, Rest of World reported, users can earn anywhere between $15 and $700 for their likeness to be used in AI content. Users do have the choice about where their faces can appear and what kind of content they are used in.

One website called ID.actor focuses on legal protections for one's likeness as its main selling point.

"In the AI era, your face is an asset," the website reads when translated. "Let your face go from 'stolen by AI' to 'empowered by AI.'"

Long Lyu, operations lead at New Claw, told Rest of World that "whether actors and models choose to license their faces on our platform or not, AI has already disrupted the industry."

Lyu added, "Selling the rights to their photos gives them a way to earn, while continuing their careers offline."

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The main use for AI likeness in China has reportedly been for the category of "microdramas."

These are wildly popular in the communist country and are available through a dedicated app created by TikTok parent company ByteDance. The platform Hongguo is specifically designed for the Chinese minidramas.

In the United States, Peacock is jumping on the microdrama craze in categories like "Romance, Billionaire, College [young adult] Romance, Fantasy, Action, and more."

The platform describes the content as "mini-bursts of drama with maximum intrigue," which are designed to be watched quickly and are "built to binge."

"All you need is a little spare time," Peacock says. "Coffee break? Between meetings? Turn those extra minutes into edge-of-your-seat moments."

According to Chinese website People.CN, about 128,000 AI microdramas were launched in the first quarter of 2026. This accounts for more than 95% of the content in the genre.

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Face-stealing has also become a significant problem with the increase of face-selling; hundreds of lawsuits popped up in China over the unauthorized use of likenesses.

Hongguo was recently accused by two influencers of stealing and altering their faces for use in a microdrama that garnered 40 million views.

"I was genuinely shocked. It was clearly me," said Christine Li. "It was so obvious that they used a specific set of photos I took two years ago," she said about her social media pictures, per France24.

Rest of World also reported that the Guangzhou Internet Court in China has already heard approximately 700 cases related to AI face theft in the last three years.

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