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ByteDance ‘strengthening safeguards’ after Seedance AI video controversy

Pledge comes after Hollywood, governments speak out against Chinese company’s tool amid flood of videos featuring celebrities, copyrighted characters.

Published: 8:34pm, 20 Feb 2026

For more on this story: https://sc.mp/35ef54

ByteDance is working to strengthen safeguards in its Seedance 2.0 video-generation tool after it received global blowback for alleged intellectual property (IP) violations. The Chinese short-video giant announced its response on February 15, 2026. The controversy focuses on the TikTok owner’s alleged use of copyrighted content to train its artificial intelligence (AI) model. Videos generated by Seedance featuring Hollywood celebrities, Disney characters and comic book heroes have flooded the web in recent days.

ByteDance ‘strengthening safeguards’ after Seedance AI video controversy

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Pledge comes after Hollywood, governments speak out against Chinese company’s tool amid flood of videos featuring celebrities, copyrighted characters.

Pledge comes after Hollywood, governments speak out against Chinese company’s tool amid flood of videos featuring celebrities, copyrighted characters.