Disney Sends Cease and Desist to ByteDance Regarding Seedance 2.0 AI Video Model
Amid rising concerns surrounding AI-generated video content, Disney has issued a cease and desist letter to ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, regarding its new platform, Seedance 2.0. The letter accuses ByteDance of populating the platform with a pirated library of Disney’s copyrighted characters, claiming the service treats Disney’s intellectual property—ranging from “Star Wars” to Marvel and “Family Guy”—as if it were freely available public domain material.
Axios first reported on Disney’s letter, which comes in the wake of significant backlash from the Motion Picture Association and the Human Artistry Campaign. This campaign includes notable organizations such as SAG-AFTRA and the Directors Guild of America (DGA).
“ByteDance’s virtual smash-and-grab of Disney’s IP is willful, pervasive, and totally unacceptable,” stated Disney’s legal counsel.
The Human Artistry Campaign further condemned Seedance 2.0, labeling it “an attack on every creator around the world.” A spokesperson emphasized, “Stealing human creators’ work in an attempt to replace them with AI-generated slop is destructive to our culture: stealing isn’t innovation.”
Seedance 2.0 triggered outrage swiftly, particularly following the viral spread of convincingly realistic deepfake videos that drew on copyrighted Hollywood films and television shows. Among these were a notable deepfake featuring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in a fictional fight scene, along with alternative endings to the popular series “Stranger Things.”
On Wednesday, the Motion Picture Association urged ByteDance to “immediately cease its infringing activity.” The studio trade group highlighted, “In a single day, the Chinese AI service Seedance 2.0 has engaged in unauthorized use of U.S. copyrighted works on a massive scale. By launching a service that operates without meaningful safeguards against infringement, ByteDance is disregarding well-established copyright law that protects the rights of creators and underpins millions of American jobs.”
In a related move, Disney has been exploring opportunities within the AI landscape and recently signed a $1 billion deal with OpenAI to license characters for the generative video app Sora.
