Disney accuses ByteDance of piracy, demands curbs on Seedance 2.0

Disney accuses ByteDance of piracy over Seedance 2.0 and demands curbs.

Hollywood organisations spoke out with sharp criticism of the Seedance 2.0 AI video generator, which “has quickly become a tool of blatant copyright infringement”.

Chinese tech giant ByteDance released an update to the neural network in February. The tool supports eight languages, including Russian and English.

The algorithm creates videos from text prompts, images and audio files. Users have noted the high quality of directing and editing, as well as “incredibly natural, almost professional” transitions between shots.

X user Ruairi Robinson posted a realistic fight scene between Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt.

This was a 2 line prompt in seedance 2. If the hollywood is cooked guys are right maybe the hollywood is cooked guys are cooked too idk. pic.twitter.com/dNTyLUIwAV

— Ruairi Robinson (@RuairiRobinson) February 11, 2026

The video was created with “two lines of text prompt in Seedance 2.0”. The clip gained 1.6 million views.

Deadpool screenwriter Rhett Reese commented on the post:

“I hate to say it, but it’s probably over for us.”

Soon the Motion Picture Association published a statement from CEO Charles Rivkin. He demanded that ByteDance “immediately cease unlawful activity”:

“In just one day, the Chinese AI service Seedance 2.0 carried out massive unauthorized use of American copyrighted works. By launching the tool without meaningful mechanisms to prevent infringement, ByteDance is ignoring long-established copyright law that protects the interests of creators and supports millions of jobs in the United States.”

The entertainment-industry coalition Human Artistry Campaign called Seedance 2.0 “an attack on every creator in the world”. The SAG-AFTRA actors’ union backed the studio’s position, condemning the project for clear violations:

“They include the unauthorized use of our members’ voices and likenesses. This is unacceptable and undermines talented people’s ability to earn a living. Seedance 2.0 ignores the law, ethics, industry standards and the fundamental principles of consent.”

The Walt Disney Company sent ByteDance a letter demanding that it stop infringing copyrights. The company accused it of shipping its service “with a prepackaged pirate library of copyrighted Disney characters from Star Wars, Marvel and other franchises”.

The letter includes numerous examples where Seedance 2.0 used “Spider-Man”, “Darth Vader”, “Grogu” and “Peter Griffin”.

Generated with Seedance 2.0 from a single prompt.

Hollywood isn’t the future of filmmaking.
Creators are. pic.twitter.com/bA7mCGFGOj

— Duet | AI (@Sheldon056) February 15, 2026

Paramount took a similar step.

Numerous videos featuring well-known characters and actors created with Seedance 2.0 have been posted on X.

Seedance 2.0

Prompt: Sum up the AI discourse in a meme — make sure it’s retarded and gets 50 likes. pic.twitter.com/09yPdo3Tjy

— Charles Curran (@charliebcurran) February 14, 2026

Another example shows Will Smith fighting a spaghetti monster.

Seedance 2.0 changed filmmaking forever.

“Will Smith fighting a spaghetti monster, epic action film scene, different cuts, 80s movie scene”

Now you can direct your own movies 🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/1prrQ4NUUh

— Javi Lopez ⛩️ (@javilopen) February 11, 2026

Other countries

Pressure on ByteDance is mounting beyond the US. Japan’s Cabinet Office has launched an investigation into the company over possible copyright violations.

The trigger was the spread on social media of content featuring characters from popular anime and manga, including Detective Conan and Ultraman.

“We cannot ignore a situation in which content is used without the rights holder’s permission,” said Japan’s minister for artificial intelligence Kimi Onoda.

Seedance 2.0 has also stirred controversy within China because of its ability to synthesise a user’s voice from a photograph.

Doubao app user Shi Yu said she felt uncomfortable when the AI created a video with a voice very similar to her own. The system likely matched the face with other clips on the internet.

“It seems personal privacy has taken a back seat,” she said.

ByteDance’s response

ByteDance said it is working to strengthen safeguards in Seedance 2.0.

“We respect intellectual property rights and have heard the concerns regarding Seedance 2.0. We are taking steps to strengthen safeguards to prevent the unauthorized use of intellectual property,” the firm’s notice said.

Under pressure from criticism, ByteDance restricted personalisation features in Seedance 2.0. The model no longer supports uploading real people’s faces as a reference for video generation.

Rui Ma, founder of consulting firm Tech Buzz China, noted that the scandal could have been a campaign orchestrated by ByteDance itself. The firm thus drew attention to Seedance 2.0’s technical capabilities.

In February, Chinese developer Kuaishou unveiled the third version of the video-generation model Kling AI.