For years, CapCut has become the darling of creators, marketers, and influencers who swear by it as one of the best free video editing apps available, packed with powerful features in a sleek, mobile-optimised interface. But buried behind the templates, transitions, and Instagrammable filters is a major revision of CapCut's Terms of Service that has now enraged a massive crowd of creators.Why? Because this change can totally transform your rights to your own words, voice, and even image. That means your face, voice, and content may no longer be yours.
What’s Changed, And Why You Should Care
CapCut's updated Terms of Service now include wide legal boilerplate that grants the firm a "worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable, and transferable license" to do whatever they like with whatever you upload; a finished, edited video, perhaps, or a rough version, or just a voiceover, or even just raw footage. This license allows CapCut to:
- Use and reproduce your work
- Distribute it publicly (including for advertising)
- Change it or make derivative works
- Use your face, voice, and likeness - even if the video was never actually published
And here's the twist: this license is irrevocable, which means CapCut gets to keep using your content even if you remove your account or the files later on.
What This Means for Creators
Imagine you're working on a brand project or releasing a voiceover for a video draft. CapCut is technically capable of using that voice, that clip, or your face in advertising campaigns or content without ever having contacted you or compensated you. The new terms do not differentiate between private and public content. Posting it on their servers makes it open to grabs.
"Most people don't understand that posting a clip, even a crappy one, can legally give away their rights."
And that's exactly the issue: most users think that they still "own" their content. But by agreeing to these terms, they're granting incredibly permissive use rights to CapCut for nothing.
The Right to Your Own Face and Voice?
Legally, people do have rights to their face and voice in "right of publicity" laws in most countries. But if such Terms of Service are agreed to by a user, which you essentially do the moment you use the app, then it gets blurry and even downright impossible to enforce those rights. Especially since the app is owned by ByteDance, a China-based app company.
Opt-out doesn't exist, precise control doesn't exist, and no in-app toggle enables you to possess control over certain types of content.
Why This Is a Bigger Deal Than You Think
This is a move that pushes CapCut from being a level-playing-field creative tool to being something closer to a distribution platform and perhaps even a data-harvesting machine. It blurs the line between user and product.
The ethical problem? A creator's content is their property, their brand, their voice, their face, and to use it for nothing, forever, without asking or paying, is just plain old exploitation.
"Stealing their work without permission or pay isn't just immoral, it's exploitative… this has repercussions for the future of creative ownership altogether."
What Are Your Options?
It's now a "take it or leave it" proposition. If you continue to use CapCut, then you're legally bound by the new terms. That's a poor deal for creatives, freelancers, and companies who rely on the app for client or commercial work.
So what can you do?
- Switch to creator-friendly software: Alternatives such as DaVinci Resolve, Adobe Premiere Pro, or even Final Cut Pro provide greater control over your creative rights (albeit most charge, and some have AI models). Also, CapCut's better mobile alternative is Edits by Instagram.
- Host locally: Attempt not to upload unfinished or sensitive content onto cloud-hosted sites that do not provide opt-out rights or transparent data handling disclosure.
- Read the fine print: Always read the Terms of Service prior to uploading anything, especially on tools that are owned by giant data-thorny tech companies.
Final Thoughts
CapCut's terms update is not just a technical fix — it's a flashback of the growing struggle between ease and agency. The app may remain free, but the cost may be your content, your identity, and your creative agency.
Creators don't need to sell off ownership just to be able to access. It's time to start demanding better from the tools we use, because if your work is good enough to be used in an ad, it's good enough to be compensated.".
