News: Hollywood Escalates War on ByteDance's Seedance 2.0 as MPA Issues Formal Cease-and-Desist and Studios Threaten Litigation
The confrontation between Hollywood and ByteDance over the Chinese tech giant's AI video generator Seedance 2.0 has escalated dramatically, with the Motion Picture Association sending a formal cease-and-desist letter demanding that ByteDance explain by February 27 exactly what steps it has taken to halt copyright infringement on the platform. The letter, sent on behalf of all seven MPA member studios, accused Seedance 2.0 of engaging in "systemic infringement rather than inadvertence," describing the tool's copyright violations as "a feature, not a bug." The legal offensive now involves cease-and-desist letters from six individual studios — Disney, Paramount Skydance, Netflix, Sony, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Universal — with Netflix reportedly threatening "immediate litigation" if ByteDance does not comply. The industry-wide response represents one of the most unified actions Hollywood has taken against a single AI company, surpassing earlier disputes with firms like Midjourney and Stability AI in both scope and intensity. ByteDance has so far responded with only a two-sentence statement pledging to "strengthen current safeguards," a response that MPA general counsel Karyn Temple dismissed as inadequate. The dispute has set up a critical deadline: ByteDance has until February 27 to provide a substantive response, or face the prospect of coordinated legal action from some of the most powerful entertainment companies in the world.