Can you own your voice? Japanese anime star Kenjiro Tsuda takes TikTok to court over AI clone
- ID
- 29190
- Status
- summarized
- Published
- 28 Sep 2026, 7:00 AM
- Fetched
- 28 Sep 2026, 7:09 AM
- Provider
- Malay Mail Tech
- Category
- malaysia-tech
- Original URL
- https://www.malaymail.com/news/tech-gadgets/2026/09/28/can-you-own-your-voice-japanese-anime-star-kenjiro-tsuda-takes-tiktok-to-court-over-ai-clone/236711
- Source URL
- https://www.malaymail.com/feed/rss/tech-gadgets
Summary
- Score
- 4.5
- Created
- 28 Sep 2026, 7:09 AM
- Tags
- Audience
- developersai_ml_learnerssaas_founders
What happened
Japanese voice actor Kenjiro Tsuda has filed a lawsuit against TikTok over a disputed account that allegedly posted more than 180 videos using a voice he says was artificially generated to resemble his own baritone. Tsuda is seeking removal of the videos on publicity-rights grounds rather than through a standard copyright claim. The report notes the case lands amid wider concern from the Japan Actors Union and an ongoing campaign against unauthorised AI imitations of performers.
Why it matters
If you ship any voice feature — TTS avatars, dubbing, AI narration, cloned-voice agents — this is a reminder that the legal hook being used is publicity/identity rights, not just copyright, and the demand is takedown of 180+ videos. Before shipping a voice clone, decide what consent artifact you hold (signed release, licence scope, expiry) and whether your platform's takedown path can act on an identity complaint, not only a DMCA-style copyright notice. The article does not state any Malaysian legal position or Malaysian platform involvement, so treat the local impact as unestablished.
Discussion angle
If a performer filed a publicity-rights complaint against a voice clone built on your product, what would you actually be able to produce in response — and does your current terms-of-service or consent flow hold up for that?