TikTok Settles Its Lawsuit With Original Text-to-speech Voice Actress

TikTok has settled with Bev Standing, the original voice actress for the app's text-to-speech feature, who alleged she received no financial compensation for the use of her voice. Standing's lawyer, Robert Sciglimpaglia, told The Verge the two sides reached an "amicable resolution" to the lawsuit, though terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Standing sued TikTok in May after discovering she had become the ubiquitous "voice" of TikTok. How she became the voice is unclear: according to the BBC, Standing "recorded about 10,000 sentences of audio for the state-backed Chinese Institute of Acoustics research body to use in translations in 2018." Somehow, they ended up as TikTok's text-to-speech voice, but Standing never saw money from her unexpected fame.

While TikTok never publically admitted that Standing was the voice used in text-to-speech videos, two weeks after she filed her lawsuit, the company switched to a different, pluckier voice, much to the dismay of users on the app. The #StandingWithBev hashtag trended online as news of the lawsuit spread.

Sciglimpaglia told The Verge that Standing's voice will be licensed on TikTok as part of the settlement, but it's ultimately up to the app to decide if they want to use it. Those hoping to not have their TikToks sound like they're being read by a woman giving a presentation on the healing power of crystals while four iced coffees deep may have their wish come true.