TikTok Replaces Text-To-Speech Voice After Lawsuit From Original Voice Actor

TikTok has replaced the female voice for their famous text-to-speech feature in North America in response to being sued by Canadian voice actor Beverly Standing after they allegedly used her voice without permission.

Standing first became aware of the issue in November 2020 and filed a complaint against TikTok's parent company Bytedance in May. Canadian news broadcasters at the CBC interviewed Standing about the incident on May 11th, where she said she's suing because she "wants other companies to know, big or small, that you can't do this."

TikTok did not make any public statements about the lawsuit. Instead, they decided to replace Standing without so much as an announcement, something TikTokers began to notice this morning. It's unclear when exactly TikTok began rolling out the new text-to-speech voice, who the new voice actor is, or the extent to which they've rolled it out.

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/6965902352280833286

Overall, TikTokers don't seem too thrilled about the new text-to-speech voice. Some are comparing the voice to that of Rebecca Brayton of WatchMojo fame, while others are criticizing it for sounding too "abrupt" and "clean," teetering an odd line between sounding too natural and not natural enough. It's not that anyone seems to hate the voice too much, but they're more so confused about the sudden change.

@aloeglauca

yall no hate to the actual person but tiktok this is so awful its so loud and CRISP #newtexttospeech #texttospeech #foryou

♬ Может попадёт и рек – Capmencut

@xjack_attackx

Bruh 💀 #ConjuringHorror #TeamUSATryout #newvoice #jackattack #fyp #texttospeech

♬ original sound – Jack Attack

@corentin.lz

WHAT – 😩 #texttospeech #newtexttospeech #tiktokupdate #update #fyp

♬ Build a B*tch – Bella Poarch

It remains to be seen what TikTokers' response-at-large will be to the new text-to-speech voice, and whether or not they'll embrace her as they did Standing. There's also the question of the thousands upon thousands of videos already on the platform using Standing's voice, although it seems unlikely any action will be taken to remove these.