Hollywood halts Seedance 2.0 global launch

Hollywood's coordinated legal strike against Seedance 2.0 signals that the gloves are off for AI video — this is the most aggressive rights-holder pushback since the image gen lawsuits.

• –The MPA's framing — "infringement is a feature, not a bug" — sets up a maximalist legal theory that could threaten any video gen model trained on copyrighted footage
• –ByteDance's pause isn't a defeat yet: it's a stall to "improve copyright protection mechanisms," similar to how image gen companies retrofitted filters post-lawsuit
• –Chinese domestic users still have full access through Jimeng/Doubao, creating a two-tier reality where geopolitics determines who gets cutting-edge video AI
• –SAG-AFTRA's involvement adds a likeness/voice dimension beyond just visual copyright, broadening the legal exposure
• –The timing — a model capable of hyper-realistic celebrity deepfakes halted amid stricter Chinese deepfake regulations simultaneously — shows how regulatory pressure is squeezing from both directions