China: Cyberspace Administration of China opened consultation on draft Administrative Measures for Digital Virtual Human Information Services including data protection regulation

On 3 April 2026, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) opened a consultation on draft Administrative Measures for Digital Virtual Human Information Services until 6 May 2026. The draft Measures apply to organisations and individuals providing internet information services to the public within the territory of the People's Republic of China through digital virtual persons. They would require separate consent before processing sensitive personal information for modelling, image generation, and scene construction, and deletion of personal information upon withdrawal of consent. Retention of personal information in any form thereafter would be prohibited. Where the personal information of a minor under the age of fourteen is processed, separate consent of a parent or guardian would be required. Data processing activities would be required to occur within specific purposes and scopes using legally sourced data. They would further grant users the right to withdraw consent, upon which the digital virtual person would be cancelled unless otherwise agreed. Service providers would be prohibited from deceiving or excessively inducing users to continue using a service after a user chooses to cancel a specific function or exit the service. In the fields of government services, public administration, and judicial activities, users would have the right to choose to accept or refuse digital virtual human services.