A Japanese voice actor filed a lawsuit in Tokyo District Court against TikTok, alleging that 188 AI-generated videos recreating his voice were posted since July 2024. The legal team said the videos were uploaded by a single account and that the deepfakes generated an estimated monthly revenue of ¥500,000 to ¥750,000. The lawsuit claims TikTok violated Japan’s Unfair Competition Prevention Law, specifically Article 2.1, which prohibits causing confusion with another person’s goods or business. The actor’s lawyers said unchecked unauthorized AI voice generation could hinder the voice acting industry and that winning the case could clarify what constitutes a legal violation. TikTok’s Japanese operator said the videos use a generic male voice and declined further comment.
"Kenjiro Tsuda has filed a lawsuit with the Tokyo District Court against the social media and video platform TikTok, alleging that 188 videos featuring an AI-generated recreation of his voice have been posted to the platform since July 2024. The actor’s legal team said roughly 188 videos featuring an AI-slop rip-off of Tsuda’s voice have been uploaded to TikTok by a single account. The deepfakes are estimated to have generated monthly revenue of somewhere between ¥500,000 and ¥750,000."
"Tsuda is suing TikTok for violating Japan’s Unfair Competition Prevention Law, specifically in regards to the law’s Article 2.1, which prohibits the act of “causing confusion with another person’s goods or business.” “If unauthorized voice generation via AI is left unchecked, it could hinder the development of the voice acting industry,” stated Tsuda’s lawyers, in the translation provided by The Japan News. “Through winning this lawsuit, we hope to clarify the scope of what would constitute a violation of law and support voice actors in exercising their rights.”"
"However, the operator of TikTok's Japanese subsidiary claims that the AI-narrated videos simply feature a “generic male voice,” which has been dubbed as the “艶つや/tsuya tsuya” voice by users on the platform. “We have been responding appropriately within the context of the lawsuit and will refrain from making any comment,” stated TikTok's Japan."
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