Disney sends ByteDance a cease-and-desist letter over Seedance 2.0's use of its characters

What happened

ByteDance launched its Seedance 2.0 AI video generator on 12 February 2026. The next day, 13 February 2026, the Walt Disney Company sent ByteDance a cease-and-desist letter, first reported by Axios, which had obtained the letter. As reported by Reuters and the BBC, the letter accused ByteDance of pre-packaging Seedance with a "pirated library" of Disney's copyrighted characters from Star Wars, Marvel and other franchises, and of reproducing, distributing and creating derivative works featuring characters including Spider-Man and Darth Vader. Disney's outside counsel called it a "virtual smash-and-grab" of Disney's intellectual property.

Paramount Skydance sent its own cease-and-desist letter on 14 February 2026, citing titles including South Park, Star Trek, The Godfather and Dora the Explorer across the Seedance video and Seedream image services, according to Variety's reporting. The Motion Picture Association demanded that Seedance "immediately cease its infringing activity," and SAG-AFTRA condemned what it described as unauthorised use of its members' voices and likenesses. In Japan, AI strategy minister Kimi Onoda said on 13 February 2026 that the government would look into the service's use of Japanese anime characters and contact ByteDance.

ByteDance told the BBC it "respects intellectual property rights" and was "taking steps to strengthen current safeguards as we work to prevent the unauthorised use of intellectual property and likeness by users." It also paused users' ability to upload images of real people, according to the reporting.

Why it may matter to you

This was a demand made outside court: no lawsuit was filed over Seedance 2.0 in the sources reviewed here. For film and television creators, it is an example of rights holders using cease-and-desist letters, industry associations and a government inquiry — rather than litigation — to press an AI company over material its model could reproduce.

What is not yet known

The letter itself has not been published, and ByteDance has not disclosed what Seedance 2.0 was trained on. Whether any studio will sue, and what specific safeguards ByteDance put in place, is not established by these reports.