CapCut’s New Terms of Service: A Creator’s Worst Nightmare

Lechery Review, July 24, 2025

CapCut, the free video editing app owned by ByteDance (the same company behind TikTok), has quietly introduced sweeping changes to its Terms of Service as of June 12, 2025, and the implications are significant for content creators. These updated terms essentially grant ByteDance an irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual license to use, reproduce, modify, publish, and distribute any content you upload or create within the app.

To put that plainly: if you film, voice, animate, or even draft a project using CapCut, ByteDance now claims the right to use your content in any way they choose—forever—without notifying you, crediting you, or compensating you. This includes your likeness, voice, brand elements, and even content you never publicly shared.

At Lechery Review, this change hit us hard.

We’ve used CapCut extensively for our unboxing videos, quick edits, and, most notably, to animate Lechery Sceleris, our long-time mascot featured across our site and socials. The simplicity and flexibility of CapCut made it a go-to editing solution for our visual storytelling. But with these new TOS in effect, continuing to use the platform would mean signing over the rights to our creative output, including Lechery.

We can’t accept that. And neither should any
creator who values ownership of their work.

Stop Motion May Be Clunky—But It’s Always Been Our Heart

When Lechery Review first dipped its toes into video content, we didn’t have the budget for a full fursuit, mocap gear, or high-end VR equipment. What we did have was a dream, a transparent PNG of Lechery Sceleris, and just enough patience to move that image frame by painstaking frame.

Our DIY stop-motion style might not be polished or cutting-edge, but it gave Lechery life when all we had was creativity and grit. That slightly jittery, lovingly chaotic animation became a signature part of our vibe—and readers noticed. Somewhere along the line, it stopped being a workaround and became a fan-favorite feature: familiar, weird, a little cursed, and unmistakably Lechery.

So yes, while CapCut might be getting the boot, Lechery's stop-motion shenanigans aren’t going anywhere. We fully intend to keep that tradition alive in whatever new software we land on.

Of course, if a kindhearted reader, kinky tech overlord, or mysteriously benevolent sugar sponsor just so happens to want to help fund our dream of full VR Lechery, we won’t stop you. We’ll just blush a lot, squeal a little, and probably name our fur baby after you. You know, normal stuff.

VR Equipment Gift List

What the New TOS Actually Says

According to the updated language, users grant CapCut the following:

“a royalty-free, fully paid, sublicensable, transferable, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, worldwide license to use Your Content in any way, including in connection with the Service and CapCut’s (and its successors’ and affiliates’) business.”

Worse still, users waive their moral rights—which typically include the right to object to derogatory treatment of your work or to be identified as its creator. Essentially, ByteDance can now repurpose anything you make with CapCut into marketing, training datasets, or ads... and you won’t be able to say no, even if the content is deeply personal or sensitive.

This isn’t just about what you publish. It applies to drafts, client work, and even private, unpublished projects. Once you upload or create it in CapCut, it’s fair game under the new policy.

SOURCE

How It Affects Us—and What’s Next

Here at Lechery Review, we’ve always taken pride in producing thoughtful, visually engaging content—especially for our product unboxings, stop-motion commentary, and playful promo clips. Much of that was built using CapCut’s suite of features. But under this new agreement, continuing to use CapCut would put our intellectual property and the integrity of our work at risk.

Lechery isn’t just a mascot, they’re a part of our brand identity. Letting CapCut potentially reproduce, market, or alter content featuring them without our control is simply not an option.

We’ve started the process of transitioning to a new editing workflow. That will take some time, as we need a solution that allows for overlay capabilities, intuitive editing, and ideally doesn’t come with a massive learning curve or a subscription wall. We’re currently testing a few alternatives, including DaVinci Resolve, VN Video Editor, and Adobe Premiere Elements, but we want to ensure that whatever we land on protects creator rights and works well for our unique content needs.

In the meantime, you might notice a slight delay in our usual video content or a shift in style as we adapt. But rest assured—we’re not going anywhere, and we’re not compromising our principles for convenience.

A Broader Warning for the Creative Community

The CapCut update isn’t just about us—it’s about the broader shift in how tech companies treat user-generated content. When free tools turn around and take legal ownership of the content creators make with them, it's a fundamental betrayal of the creative process. These platforms thrive because of the work we upload—and they’re increasingly trying to own that work without paying for it.

If you're a content creator, freelancer, brand, or even just someone who enjoys making personal videos: read the TOS. Know what rights you're giving away. And consider whether that convenience is worth the cost.

For us? It’s not.

Stay tuned for our updates as we transition to new software and continue bringing you honest reviews, unboxings, and all things Lechery Review without selling out our creative rights in the process.