The Chinese company, best known as TikTok's parent organization (and now a minority shareholder in its U.S. spinoff), launched Seedance 2.0 in China back in February. Brief videos generated by the model, including a clip featuring Tom Cruise fighting Brad Pitt, soon went viral and drew intense criticism from Hollywood. While one successful screenwriter declared that the footage meant, 'It's likely over for us,' studios quickly sent ByteDance a flurry of cease-and-desist letters, with Disney's lawyers accusing the company of a 'virtual smash-and-grab of Disney's IP.' ByteDance responded by promising to introduce stronger safeguards for intellectual property. Actively scaling' Fundraising' Planning your next launch'TechCrunch Founder Summit 2026 delivers tactical playbooks and direct access to 1,000+ founders and investors who are building, backing, and closing.Register by March 13 to save up to $300.
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