The Walt Disney Co. has issued a cease‑and‑desist letter to Chinese tech giant ByteDance, accusing the TikTok parent of populating its new Seedance 2.0 platform with “a pirated library” of Disney‑owned characters, according to media reports. Disney’s attorneys described ByteDance’s use of its intellectual property as “willful, pervasive, and totally unacceptable” to train and develop an artificial intelligence video generation model without compensation.
The warning follows mounting criticism of Seedance 2.0 from the American creative industry bodies like Motion Picture Association, Human Artistry Campaign and the Directors Guild of America. Disney’s move is also the most serious action a Hollywood studio has taken so far against ByteDance since it launched Seedance 2.0 on Thursday.
The Human Artistry Campaign has called Seedance 2.0 “an attack on creators worldwide”, and asserting that the platform “steals human creators’ work in an attempt to replace them with AI‑generated slop”, which it said is harmful to culture and creativity.
Seedance 2.0 sparked controversy almost immediately after launch, as a wave of realistic deepfake videos based on copyrighted film and television content went viral. These included a fictional Tom Cruise vs. Brad Pitt fight sequence, alternate endings for the popular Netflix series Stranger Things, and more.
Trying to Fix Stranger Things Finale Battle
Episode 2: Will, Eleven, Eight vs Vecna
made with Seedance 2.0Should I continue to finish the story? pic.twitter.com/9EI8oTBYTX
— Ran.627 (@Nin19536) February 12, 2026
On Wednesday, the MPA urged ByteDance to “immediately cease its infringing activity”, stating that Seedance 2.0 had engaged in massive unauthorised use of US copyrighted works “in a single day.” The association argued that by deploying a tool without “meaningful safeguards against infringement”, ByteDance is disregarding long‑standing copyright protections that support millions of jobs in the American entertainment industry, Hollywood publication Deadline reported.
This is not Disney’s first clash with AI platforms. The company sent a similar cease‑and‑desist notice to Google in December. Its tools — including Gemini and Nano Banana — have recently begun blocking prompts involving Disney‑owned characters, as per Deadline.
Indian filmmaker Imtiaz Ali stressed the ethical uncertainty surrounding rapid technological change. He told NDTV, “As technology develops, ethical standards of the industry should also develop.” He called ByteDance a “potential threat” and said hoped there will be no infringement. “Aside of Seedance, and on a macro level, the filmmaking community feels uncertain about the ground under their feet as AI develops,” he said.
Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap offered a far more direct criticism of AI, saying, “I don’t like any AI. It only borrows from what already exists.”
The debate around AI manipulation of Raanjhanaa raised serious ethical and creative concerns, with director Aanand L Rai telling NDTV that altering a film’s ending without discussion was a violation of both the creator’s vision and the audience’s trust.
Essential Business Intelligence,
Continuous LIVE TV,
Sharp Market Insights,
Practical Personal Finance Advice and
Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.
