The Walt Disney Company has begun one of the most aggressive legal actions to date in the increasingly intense conflict between Hollywood and generative artificial intelligence, targeting ByteDance’s Seedance 2.0 platform, which it calls a “virtual smash-and-grab“ of intellectual property.
The Walt Disney Company, on February 14, 2026, served ByteDance, the parent company of popular video-sharing app TikTok, with a cease and desist letter, stating that the Seedance 2.0 platform was pre-loaded with a “pirated library” of copyrighted characters.
Disney accuses ByteDance of willful copyright infringement
According to Disney’s legal counsel, David Singer, the artificial intelligence platform was capable of producing icons such as Spider-Man, Darth Vader, Grogu, and Peter Griffin instantly, with near-perfect fidelity, as if they were “public-domain clip art.“
The legal action follows the recent firestorm of controversy that erupted when a 15-second photorealistic rooftop battle scene between Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt went viral on social media on February 11, 2026. The video was revealed by Irish filmmaker Ruairí Robinson to have been created using just two lines of code on the Seedance 2.0 platform. Deadpool writer Rhett Reese famously reposted the clip with the caption: “I hate to say it. It’s likely over for us.”
The video was cited by Disney and the actors’ union, SAG-AFTRA, as evidence of the unauthorized reproduction of likeness. The actors’ union went on to condemn the artificial intelligence platform, saying it enabled “digital identity theft on a global scale.”
In the next 48 hours, other production companies also entered the fray. Paramount Pictures, along with Skydance Media, also issued their own legal notices, accusing the misuse of their intellectual properties, including “Star Trek,” “The Godfather,” “South Park,” and “Dora the Explorer.” SAG-AFTRA; Motion Picture Association have also demanded that the infringing activity be immediately halted, as the tool was launched with no meaningful safeguards in place, “unauthorized use of members’ voices and likenesses.” ByteDance has since backpedaled, assuring that more safeguards will be put in place. It has also been reported that users can now expect a “Safety Violation” notice if they try to input prompts related to Disney-owned properties. Moreover, a live facial verification tool has also been introduced for celebrity likeness generation.
It has also been reported that Disney had entered into a $1 billion licensing agreement with OpenAI in late 2025, which allowed for the legal generation of character content through Sora-based apps. While detractors believe that Disney is not against AI, it is only against unlicensed AI; the fact remains that Seedance 2.0 has become the first major legal test for the extent to which Hollywood will go to protect their digital crown jewels.
