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Hollywood Studios Demand ByteDance Stop Piracy
The Motion Picture Association (MPA) has gone on the offensive against the owner of TikTok. The trigger is the Seedance 2.0 neural network, which expertly generates videos featuring iconic characters – from Shrek and Deadpool to Darth Vader and the cast of Stranger Things.
Seven major studios (including Disney, Netflix and Sony) have sent an official demand to ByteDance to stop training the AI on their films and to implement strict filtering measures.
The MPA’s position is that “copyright infringement is not a bug, but a feature of Seedance,” as the association’s lawyers put it. Online, more and more clips are appearing in which users praise the neural network precisely for its “disregard for the law.”
ByteDance has so far responded only with a brief statement expressing “respect for intellectual property,” which Hollywood has dismissed as an empty formality.
ByteDance has until February 27 to present a concrete action plan. Otherwise, the industry is prepared to launch lengthy legal battles against the Chinese giant.
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