Beijing News investigation: AI used to mass-forge celebrity family members for product sales of Wuhai powder

“I am Feng Gong’s ex-wife, and I recommend ‘Five Black Powder.’”

“I am Liu Huan’s wife, Lu Lu. Today I’m sitting in front of the camera talking to you all...” On social media, a woman claiming to be “Liu Huan’s wife, Lu Lu” speaks at length; in a video lasting 21 minutes, she recounts how she met and fell in love with her husband and her half a lifetime of toil.

The story is not short on warmth, but the focus gradually “goes off track”: for 11 minutes of it, she details how the two, having worked too hard when young, were left with health problems, and eventually took the “Polygonatum Five Black Powder” recommended by an old Chinese medicine doctor and processed through nine steamings and nine sun-dryings, which restored their health.

Recently, a Beijing News Shell Finance reporter noticed that a batch of videos in which so-called “celebrities’ family members” pour out their hearts on social media are actually AI-generated. “My name is Li Guifang, I am Feng Gong’s ex-wife... today I just came out to say a few heartfelt words to everyone.” “I am Zhao Lirong’s son Sheng Fuchun...” The identities in front of the camera each have their own pedigree, but the script is exactly the same: first lay out a bit of behind-the-scenes celebrity story, then quietly slip the product into the story.

English text is being prepared.

In the view of lawyers, AI impersonation of celebrities for sales is hard to stop because the threshold for producing the content is almost zero, while the returns are far higher than the cost of being held accountable afterward; regulation and rights protection cannot keep up with the spread of content. However, this does not mean no one is liable: consumers can file claims against the AI video producers, operators, the company (the product provider), and the platform as co-defendants.

“Hair turns white fast, can’t sleep well at night”: celebrity stories urge purchase of “supplements”

“A woman doesn’t live her life for her husband, nor for her children, but for herself.” On social media, the supposed “Feng Gong ex-wife Li Guifang” in the video urges “sisters” to love themselves, speaking as someone who has been through it all.

After several rounds of heartfelt buildup, the video protagonist claiming to be “Feng Gong’s ex-wife” begins recommending a “Polygonatum Five Black Powder” to “sisters”: “sisters like me who have toiled for half their lives for the family, for the children, for men,” and “sisters with deficient qi and blood, hair turning white fast, unable to sleep well at night, lacking energy during the day, who always say they’re fine,” can all take “Polygonatum Five Black Powder” to build up their health.

In the video, “Polygonatum Five Black Powder” is given a series of labels: nine-steamed and nine-sun-dried “Polygonatum” combined with black sesame, black beans, black rice, black mulberry, and black goji berries. “Polygonatum” tonifies qi and nourishes yin, moistens the five viscera and benefits the bone marrow, does not cause internal heat and does not irritate the stomach and intestines, and in ancient times was also called “the immortals’ surplus grain.”

A Shell Finance reporter noticed that such AI videos under the banner of “celebrities’ family members” are not uncommon, but the marketing methods are often relatively covert. Most first tell behind-the-scenes stories with celebrities, then embed “Polygonatum Five Black Powder” into the story for promotion, with tags such as “Polygonatum Five Black Powder” attached below the video. When the reporter tried to buy, they found that the purchase link was hidden behind other accounts.

A video recommending “Polygonatum Five Black Powder” is captioned “I am Zhao Lirong’s son Sheng Fuchun”; to buy the product, one needs to click on the account’s homepage and then jump to another account’s product showcase.

A video posted by an account recommends “Polygonatum Five Black Powder,” and purchase requires jumping to another account’s product showcase. Screenshot

Some video content and tags do not mention “Polygonatum Five Black Powder,” but they are likewise quietly selling it. Under a short video in which “Liu Huan’s wife Lu Lu” introduces the effects of “Polygonatum Five Black Powder,” the description is actually “2026 Snooker World Championship second round...”

Riding on celebrity traffic, “Polygonatum Five Black Powder” sales are not low: one product link shows more than 800 sold, with 56 users posting product reviews. A Shell Finance reporter observed that under some AI “celebrities’ family members” videos, many comments praise the celebrities themselves and their family members, and some consumers ask where to buy the nine-steamed and nine-sun-dried “Polygonatum Five Black Powder” recommended by a certain celebrity.

The reporter randomly consulted the online customer service in the above AI videos about the effects of “Polygonatum Five Black Powder,” and the other party said that “Polygonatum Five Black Powder” is a food, not a medicine, does not have the function of treating diseases, is not a health supplement, and cannot replace medicines for the prevention, diagnosis, or treatment of diseases.

“Polygonatum Five Black Powder” can be OEM-labeled; the manufacturer behind it was once fined for violating the Food Safety Law

In the AI actor videos playing “Liu Huan’s wife” and “Feng Gong’s ex-wife,” Meitai “Polygonatum Five Black Powder” is priced at 119.9 yuan for 4 boxes (29.975 yuan/box). In addition, in the video claimed to be “Zhao Lirong’s son,” the purchase link sells at a discounted price of 20.9 yuan/box (original price 29.9 yuan/box).

In addition, Meitai “Polygonatum Five Black Powder” is also sold on e-commerce platforms, with original prices ranging from 8.5 yuan/box (250 grams) to 130.87 yuan/box (250 grams).

Product promotional images show that one manufacturer of Meitai "Polygonatum Five Black Powder" is Bozhou Kangyuantai Health Industry Development Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Kangyuantai Health Company"). A Shell Finance reporter called Kangyuantai Health Company as a prospective partner, and a business person in charge first asked: "What quality do you want to make, and do you want to affix your own trademark?" According to the introduction, different qualities of "Polygonatum Five Black Powder" correspond to cost prices of 6 yuan/box and 5 yuan/box. In addition to the Meitai brand, "Polygonatum Five Black Powder" can also be sold under one's own trademark.

Tianyancha shows that Kangyuantai Health Company is located in Anhui, was established in 2025, and had 0 employees enrolled in social insurance that year. The company once violated the provisions of the Food Safety Law of the People's Republic of China. According to the penalty basis, the company produced and operated food and food additives in which the content of pathogenic microorganisms, pesticide residues, veterinary drug residues, biological toxins, heavy metals and other contaminants and other substances harmful to human health exceeded the limits set by food safety standards. The party produced a total of 1,115 boxes of the involved product "Five Black Powder," 250 grams (25 grams*10)/box. All were sold that day to Bozhou Shentaitang Biotechnology Co., Ltd. at a sale price of 2.6 yuan/box, with sales revenue (illegal gains) of 2,899 yuan.

Kangyuantai Health Company was fined in August 2026. Screenshot from Tianyancha

A Shell Finance reporter's investigation found that another manufacturer of Meitai "Polygonatum Five Black Powder" is Anhui Shanfengtang Health Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Shanfengtang Health Company"), which had 0 employees enrolled in social insurance in both 2025 and 2024.

The above-mentioned business person in charge of Kangyuantai Health Company said that Meitai is its "own" brand, the company behind it is Anhui Xinkangyuan Brand Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Xinkangyuan Brand Company"), Shanfengtang Health Company is also "its own," and Kangyuantai Health Company is currently temporarily suspended due to qualification issues.

When a Shell Finance reporter asked why Kangyuantai Health Company had 0 employees enrolled in social insurance, the person in charge said: "Kangyuantai Health Company stopped producing products in June this year and will deregister the company later. The relevant AI videos did not come from the company, but merchants that previously took goods have been urged to rectify."

Tianyancha shows that Xinkangyuan Brand Company has successfully registered pharmaceutical trademarks such as "Meitai," "AIUTOU," "Dr. Huai," "Renzhi," and "Yiduoxuan." Wu Zhanghui, the legal representative of Xinkangyuan Brand Company, is one of the shareholders of Kangyuantai Health Company, holding 20%.

Core personnel of Xinkangyuan Brand Company and Kangyuantai Health Company. Screenshot from Tianyancha

Regarding the matter of AI impersonating celebrities' family members to sell Meitai "Polygonatum Five Black Powder," a Shell Finance reporter called Xinkangyuan Brand Company, and its legal representative replied that the company's legal team is following up and handling the matter, and has notified downstream merchants selling the product that they are not allowed to use AI "celebrity family members" to sell "Polygonatum Five Black Powder." If discovered, they will order the relevant videos to be taken down, otherwise supply will be cut off and the relevant merchants will be sued.

Some teams "take disciples" to mass-produce videos: a good business or harvesting?

To find out where these videos come from, a Shell Finance reporter contacted an account operator selling Meitai "Polygonatum Five Black Powder." The account has published 160 videos, involving "Liu Huan's wife Lu Lu," "Feng Gong's ex-wife Li Guifang," and others, with more than 6,000 followers and 22,000 likes and favorites.

"I made more than 1,800 yuan in half a month as a part-time operator of 'Polygonatum Five Black Powder' AI videos, with a commission of 68%." The operator described selling "Polygonatum Five Black Powder" as a good business, but the reporter saw from the pinned "Polygonatum Five Black Powder" purchase link that only 1 transaction had been completed in the past six months.

According to the operator, they have a team, and selling "Polygonatum Five Black Powder" belongs to the emotional track. In addition to AI "celebrity family member" video sales, there are also forms such as AI storylines and animated graphic copy. Hot-selling products also change from period to period; currently popular ones include "Four Treasures Powder," "Five Black Powder," "Kudzu Root Powder," and "Seven White Drink."

"The platform is 'cracking down hard' now and does not recommend making AI 'celebrity family member' videos; if caught, you have to bear legal responsibility." The operator told a Shell Finance reporter, "The currently more stable money-making channels are mainly image posts on official accounts and real-person talking-head videos on short-video platforms, with commissions basically at 30%-70%, settled directly in cash the next day."

To persuade the reporter to join the team, the operator frequently dangled inducements: "Follow our 'Wild Wolf Team,' and you can learn any popular track, with two years of accompanying guidance, live-streamed teaching, a 'master' to lead you, and large-group and small-group Q&A. These are all free."

However, joining the team requires a 998 yuan threshold fee. When the reporter asked about the company behind the team, the other party said it involved the person in charge's privacy and was inconvenient to disclose, "After joining the team you will know, and you can even have meals with the team leader."

The operator introduces the team and the profitability of the sales business. Screenshot

A trainee who claimed to have signed up for the "Wild Wolf Team" told a Shell Finance reporter that the team has many courses and they are very long, generally 40-50 minutes, but the "teacher" speaks in generalities and is verbose, making it hard to listen to the whole thing, and without hands-on teaching one cannot learn.

The trainee said that they had originally joined the group to learn how to run an account, but the assigned "teacher" taught recruitment, that is, how to recruit trainees into the group; recruiting one trainee can earn at least 300 yuan. Because the "teacher" cannot be changed midway, they could only accept the loss. "The so-called one-on-one teacher won't look for you if you don't look for her. If you ask questions, she only tells you to go listen to the live-streamed courses yourself."

Another trainee failed to get a refund and has now left the group. "Absolutely do not join; it is completely unreliable, just recruiting people for headcount. The ones making money are those 'teachers' who pull you into the group."

According to the group chat records provided by the trainee, the leader of the so-called "Wild Wolf Team" issued a notice requiring everyone to "walk on two legs": in addition to learning how to start an account, they should also do recruitment, so that not only can they earn an extra income, but after the two-year tuition expires they can also continue learning for free. This means that in order to avoid paying subsequent tuition, trainees must either actively recruit or push sales through livestream selling.

Trainees say they will be cleared out after the two-year tuition expires, and that continuing to learn without renewal fees requires meeting recruitment and sales targets. Screenshot

According to the Black Cat Complaint platform, consumers have already complained about the "Wild Wolf Team," with the main complaints being that the "teachers" in the group mostly run matrix account livestream selling, pay for traffic promotion, and do recruitment to pull in people; joining the team brought little money and was purely being "harvested like leeks."

Recently, actor Wu Yue posted late at night angrily denouncing merchants for using AI technology to forge her voice and image for livestream selling. In 2025, an AI actor impersonated CCTV host Li Zimeng to promote fish oil in a livestream; in the same year, athletes Quan Hongchan, Sun Yingsha, and Wang Chuqin were also impersonated by AI actors to promote agricultural products and the like.

In response, a relevant person in charge of a social platform told a Shell Finance reporter that, regarding the AI impersonation accounts, illegally disseminated content, and involved merchants discovered through screening, the platform has implemented corresponding handling measures, including shutting down the e-commerce operating permissions of relevant violating accounts and completing the cleanup of existing violating content on the site.

According to the introduction, using AI to generate celebrity portraits and conduct marketing and livestream selling is one of the violations that the platform focuses on controlling, and in serious cases accounts will be directly banned. At present, the platform has established AI content recognition capabilities covering features such as "deep forgery of images and videos" and "abnormal creation traces," and will also combine external clues such as hot events and user reports to assess and handle potential violating content. AI forgery technology is constantly upgrading and new scenarios are emerging endlessly, bringing certain difficulties to content governance. The platform is also continuously upgrading technical means, improving the clue database, and strengthening the control and governance of relevant content.

In the view of Jiang Han, a senior researcher at the Pangu Think Tank, the reason AI impersonation of celebrities for livestream selling persists despite repeated bans is that the cost-benefit ratio is severely disproportionate: AI has pushed the threshold for producing impersonation content to almost zero, and a video can be generated in bulk in a few minutes. At the same time, the illegal gains far exceed the cost of accountability afterward, and many accounts "shoot once and move elsewhere," with regulation and rights protection unable to keep up with the speed of content spread; in addition, platforms mostly handle matters after the fact, making governance rather passive, and some cases even require the rights holder themselves or family members to report before problematic videos are taken down.

"This AI 'celebrity family member' video selling is a new variant that has shifted from directly riding on celebrity traffic to exploiting public emotional trust," Jiang Han warned. The public has limited understanding of public information about celebrities' family members and finds it difficult to verify the authenticity of identities. In essence, it directs AI's low-cost generation capability at the softest spot of social emotions, making it far more concealed than ordinary false advertising.

Zhou Chuikun, a senior partner at Beijing Yingke Law Firm, said that products such as "Five Black Powder" have a low threshold and few qualification requirements; they are essentially ordinary food grain powder and do not require drug or health product approvals. They can be OEM-produced with a label, and in promotion it is easy to skirt the rules, while regulatory characterization is also relatively vague. At the same time, their cost is low and gross margin high, leaving large commission profit space for channels, and after-sales risk is low—eating them will not cause major problems, at most "no effect." In addition, their efficacy narrative highly matches the target group: "black enters the kidney," "darkens hair and nourishes beauty," and "tonifies the kidney and boosts qi" are the health topics middle-aged and elderly people care about most, and stories are also easy to fabricate.

"AI 'celebrity family member' videos appear frequently, and the 'Huangjing Five Black Powder' company (manufacturer) cannot be exempted from liability," emphasized Li Hongjiang, executive partner of Beijing Guantao Law Firm and director of its intellectual property business committee. If an operator fails to fulfill the review obligations stipulated by law or contract for promotional content and is negligent in the occurrence of damage, it forms a joint tort with the livestream seller and should bear joint and several liability according to law. The company's review obligation cannot be transferred. As the product provider, the company has a reasonable review obligation regarding the way its products are promoted, especially in obviously high-risk scenarios such as selling goods involving celebrity identities, where the review obligation is even stricter.

Looking at the chain of AI "celebrity family member" video selling, Li Hongjiang said that the responsibilities of all parties present a layered structure and cannot be mutually absolved. The parties may agree through contract on internal responsibility sharing, but such internal agreements cannot be used against external victims. For consumers and rights holders, they can assert their rights by naming all parties as co-defendants.

"The AI video producer clearly knew the video content involved impersonating the identity of a celebrity's family member, yet still produced it and provided it to clients for commercial promotion; the act itself constitutes infringement of others' personality rights. At the same time, if the livestream seller intentionally uses material that infringes on others' personality rights and other rights and interests, it constitutes infringement; the operator, as the entity directly carrying out the impersonation, fabricates identity, publishes false videos, and induces consumers to place orders, and is the core link in the infringement chain, and should bear primary infringement liability and consumer fraud liability," Li Hongjiang believes. As for the platform, if, after being notified by the rights holder, the service provider fails to promptly take necessary measures such as stopping the generation of infringing content, it should bear infringement liability according to law. For obvious deepfake content that uses celebrity portraits for false advertising, if the platform merely labels it with prompts such as "suspected AI creation," that is not enough to determine that it has fulfilled its reasonable duty of care.

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