ByteDance bolsters Seedance 2.0 with watermarking, IP safeguards ahead of global roll-out

ByteDance has bolstered its controversial video-generation model Seedance 2.0 with “advanced” watermarking and intellectual property (IP) protection guardrails ahead of its global roll-out, the TikTok owner has said.

The much-anticipated international release comes amid intense scrutiny from Hollywood studios over alleged IP theft after numerous Seedance-generated videos featuring famous Hollywood actors and characters went viral in February.

On Wednesday, ByteDance said its global safety and intellectual property teams had worked with a third-party “red-teaming” partner to bolster the safety features of Seedance 2.0, which would become available to users of its artificial intelligence content creation platform CapCut in major markets including Europe, Africa, South America and Southeast Asia.

The new features include C2PA watermarking that would allow ByteDance to “identify content made with this model and take action against it when needed, even if it has been shared or altered off our platform”, and “proactive monitoring” of IP violations on the platform.

Launched in 2021, C2PA is an industry standard backed by Microsoft, Google and Adobe that promotes transparency of online content through digital watermarking.

A new watermarking feature allows ByteDance to “identify content made with this model and take action against it when needed, even if it has been shared or altered off our platform”. Photo: Getty Images

ByteDance first partnered with C2PA to automatically label AI-generated content on its flagship app TikTok in 2024, becoming the first video sharing platform to do so.

South China Morning Post