Kenjiro Tsuda Sues TikTok, Seeking Removal of Alleged AI Voice Copies

A voice actor says an anonymous TikTok account used an AI copy of his voice to narrate videos. Now Kenjiro Tsuda is asking a court to hold the platform responsible for removing them. TikTok disputes that the voice is his at all. The Tokyo District Court’s pending decision will address the platform’s responsibility for the posts, not just the alleged imitation.

The videos behind the claim

The anonymous account paired images with speech about urban legends, occult phenomena and conspiracy theories. The speech appeared to be AI-generated. Its profile picture resembled a character from Jujutsu Kaisen voiced by Tsuda, who is also known for work in Yu-Gi-Oh!. Those details help explain why he says viewers would connect the voice to him; they do not, on their own, settle whose voice the videos used.

Tsuda’s legal team argues that the account drew an audience because his voice made its videos appealing. In its complaint, the team said the account once had more than 200,000 subscribers and estimated that it could have earned upwards of 500,000 yen a month. Those figures are part of Tsuda’s case for the value of the alleged imitation, not established revenue findings.

A claim about identity, not just audio

Tsuda’s attorneys invoke publicity rights: a person’s ability to control and profit from commercial use of their identity. Their argument depends on more than whether the narration sounds deep. They say the account benefited from a voice listeners would associate with a popular actor. TikTok counters that any resemblance is subjective, leaving the identity of the voice sharply contested.

The two sides also disagree about what TikTok’s role should mean. Tsuda wants the platform to remove the videos. TikTok told the court it merely hosted a place for users to post creative content within free speech, and it challenged his claim that the account exploited a nationally famous name under unfair-competition law. That defense puts both the alleged link to Tsuda and the platform’s duty at issue.

Protection without a voice-specific law

Japan has no law that explicitly establishes ownership of a person’s voice. In August, its justice ministry issued non-binding guidance saying a voice can be protected through existing publicity rights and rights concerning unauthorized use of someone’s likeness. The guidance gives Tsuda’s argument a legal frame, but it does not create a new statute or determine whether these particular videos copied him.

The lawsuit is believed to be Japan’s first aimed at defending an individual’s vocal identity against AI-generated copies. Waseda University intellectual-property professor Tatsuhiro Ueno told AFP he thinks it is very unlikely Tsuda’s voice will be denied publicity-rights protection outright. That is an expert assessment, not the court’s decision; how the ministry’s guidance will affect the ruling remains unclear.

Why the case continues after the account

The account itself is no longer viewable, but the court still has to decide whether TikTok was responsible for removing the posts. The case therefore reaches beyond the account’s current status. A ruling is due Wednesday; until then, neither Tsuda’s claim of an AI copy nor TikTok’s account of its responsibility is a court finding.