Who is the TikTok Voice? Meet The Woman who Sued TikTok for Using Her Voice
Now this might just be the craziest story you’ve ever heard. The story of a woman who got sold-short by TikTok- Currently the fastest growing social media platform to date.
This is the story of the Canadian Woman who Sued TikTok for using her voice…
Who is the TikTok voice?
The mystery woman behind TikTok’s voiceovers is Canadian voice actress Beverly Standing.
Standing has a history as a popular voice over artist working within Canada and the US. Mainly on TV commercials and infomercials with big clients including the likes of Disney, Honda, and Fage.
While it appeared to be going smoothly for Standing, in early 2021 she filed a lawsuit against the parent company of TikTok (ByteDance) for using her voice without her permission.
The supposed voice recordings were meant to be used for translations. So you can imagine it was quite a shock when Standing heard her voice coming from a friend's phone with what was meant to be a seemingly harmless TikTok video.
Controversy: The suing scandal over voice use
According to records, TikTok had used voice snippets from a voiceover gig that Standing had done for the Chinese Institute of Acoustics. The job required Standing to record around 10,000 sentences to be used mainly for translation purposes.
TikTok had supposedly used the translations as the hero voice of their ‘text-to-speech’ feature released in late 2020. Not long after it was revealed that the recordings were being used without permission leaving the leaders of TikTok in some pretty deep doo doo.
Standing herself had only realized after friends and family members shared multiple videos with her. Right away it was clear that the decision to file a lawsuit would be the only way to ensure that she would be fairly compensated for her work.
When raised in court, Standing's lawyer stated that Standing “...has suffered significant injury and irreparable harm…” with TikTok “...depriving the defendant of the ability to control her reputation.” According to Standings attorney Robert Sciglimpaglia, the copyright infringements could reach up to a $150,000 penalty per day for the TikTok moguls.
A statement from Standing-
“My voice is my product - it’s my business. You can’t just use it and not reimburse me for what I do. If you want to use someone's voice, pay for it.”
Very little response came from TikTok, with the social media giants keeping the case very much underwraps. However, mid-lawsuit TikTok discreetly changed their voice over actor- removing Beverly's voice completely. The move did not go unnoticed. TikTok users began creating videos solely around the change. Voicing their outrage towards the new voice and asking for the ‘Beverley Voice’ to return. Her supporters even popularized the hashtag #StandingWithBev in aid of the lawsuit.
Timeline of the case:
December 2020 - Text-to-speech feature added to TikTok
|May 2021 - Lawsuit filed against ByteDance by Standing and her lawyer for intellectual property theft
|May 2021 - Two-weeks later, TikTok change the voice on their text-to-speech feature
|September 2021 - Lawsuit settled under an ‘amicable resolution’
What was the outcome?
The lawsuit between Standing and TikTok was settled pretty quickly. By September 2021 Standing’s lawyer said the settlement was in the process of finalizing, and that details surrounding payment could not be disclosed.
What we do know is that TikTok agreed to license Standing’s voice as part of the agreement, but that it was up to TikTok whether or not they wish to use it.
TikTok tactfully remained under the radar throughout the whole court case. But from the result it’s implied that it’s been hard to decipher who's really to blame.
Standing revealed she made recordings for a text-to-speech feature “several years ago” but that they were meant to be used for translations of Chinese texts. But somehow, her voice made its way to TikTok. TikTok never confirmed that it used Standing’s voice, but the feature sure sounded like her…
Who is the new voice of TikTok?
Honestly, we don’t know. Evidently TikTok are very private and nowadays TikTok voices range from region to region.
We’re assuming that this time round TikTok have approached finding their new voice with proper authentication. Especially since they entered an official partnership with Disney. Who has allowed TikTok rights to use the voices of popular Disney characters.
Summary
All in all, both TikTok and Standing managed to come to an amicable conclusion.
The most positive news is that the case has highlighted important areas of the voice over industry which in the past have been underrepresented. Regulations now need to be put in place to ensure that everyone involved is protected. Standing highlights that her case against TikTok is not an isolated issue, but part of a wider issue involving text-to-speech jobs and artificial intelligence in the voice acting industry.
Ongoing text-to-speech development is predicted to reach nearly $5 billion by 2027. So if you are interested in knowing the best ways to utilize speech development across social media for your business work with us at Noise.
Work with us
Noise is an award-winning social-first media agency that helps drive tangible growth for brands. For more information or to enquire about growing your brand through social media please email brands@noisemediagroup.co.uk
