IT·Science News

Netflix joins Disney in threatening ByteDance over viral AI video tool Seedance 2.0

Netflix has joined Disney, Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery in warning ByteDance over Seedance 2.0, the TikTok owner’s new AI video generator, Singapore-based Marketech APAC reported on 19 February. The tool went viral after a fake video of Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in a fight scene, followed by a wave of similar clips. Netflix’s letter called Seedance “a high-speed piracy engine” and warned of immediate litigation unless ByteDance stops generating videos resembling its content and excludes it from training data.

Axios broke the first letter: Disney wrote to ByteDance the day after the tool’s launch, accusing it of training the model on Disney works without paying and of packaging it with characters such as Spider-Man, Darth Vader and Grogu. The Motion Picture Association’s Charles Rivkin asked ByteDance to “immediately cease its infringing activity”. India’s Storyboard18 reports that on Monday 16 February ByteDance said it was “taking steps to strengthen current safeguards”, without saying what they would be.

“ByteDance respects intellectual property rights, and we have heard the concerns regarding Seedance 2.0.” — ByteDance spokesperson, via Marketech APAC

How each outlet framed it

• Axios — the opening shot: Disney’s outside lawyer David Singer called it a “virtual smash-and-grab of Disney's IP” and “just the tip of the iceberg”.
• Storyboard18 — the context: Disney has also challenged Character.AI, yet licensed its characters to OpenAI for Sora in December.
• Marketech APAC — the escalation: four studios on record, with Warner Bros. Discovery citing AI clips of Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and Batman characters.

What we don't know yet: what ByteDance’s new safeguards will be, and whether any studio will follow through with a lawsuit.