Netflix calls ByteDance’s Seedance 2.0 A ‘High-Speed Piracy Engine,’ Threatens Immediate Legal Action

Netflix, the global streaming service, warned ByteDance on Tuesday, asking it to take ‘immediate litigation’ over its AI video tool Seedance 2.0, which they called out as a ‘high-speed piracy engine.’

On Tuesday, the streaming service sent a letter to the Chinese firm and demanded the removal of its IP from training datasets. Netflix has teamed up with Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount and Disney to tackle this AI issue.

The tool was accused by the streaming service of making unauthorized clips of their hit projects like “Stranger Things,” “Squid Game,” “Bridgerton,” and the animated feature “KPop Demon Hunters.”

“Seedance acts as a high-speed piracy engine, generating mass quantities of unauthorized derivative works utilizing Netflix’s iconic characters, worlds, and scripted narratives,” wrote Mindy LeMoine, director of litigation.

It further reads, “Netflix will not stand by and watch ByteDance treat our valued IP as free, public domain clip art.”

The letter also alleges that the clips, which are circulating on social media, show unauthorized depictions of costumes from “Bridgerton” Season 4 in a masquerade-ball theme.

“These outputs mirror specific, narratively important costumes like Sophie Baek’s ‘Lady in Silver’ gown,” LeMoine wrote, adding, “ByteDance has even promoted this content using #Bridgerton tags via its own official social media channels, such as @BytePlusGlobal.”

Mentioning the videos of “Stranger Things” series finale, which are making the rounds, feature detailed reproductions of the iconic cast as well as the monsters from the series, including Demogorgons and the Mindflayer.” 

The letter also states that the users have created “unauthorized crossovers, such as inserting real-world figures like Elon Musk into the ‘Squid Game’ environment.”

Responding to the outrage, ByteDance shared on Monday that it would impose additional guardrails to put a stop to unauthorized use of copyrights and actors’ likenesses by Seedance users.