20 May 2025
Nicaraguan cartoonist Pedro X. Molina denounced on his Facebook account on 12 May the fraudulent use of his press cartoons by the ‘AmeriSatire’ and ‘ToonAmerica’ accounts on the social media TikTok and YouTube. These accounts published press cartoons presumably modified by artificial intelligence (AI) by signing their names to them.
On 14 May, the American cartoonist Clay Jones reported to the YouTube channel that his copyright had been infringed by ‘ToonAmerica’, which had published his modified cartoons by signing them.
Following a call for action by cartoonist Pedro X. Molina on Facebook, a wave of support for cartoonists faced with this abuse was sparked.
ToonAmerica’s YouTube channel has since deleted all his videos using press cartoons, but his account remains active on TikTok. The ‘AmeriSatire’ account is still active on YouTube.
Cartooning for Peace is alarmed by this shameless use of AI, which amounts to plagiarism, in defiance of press cartoonists’ copyright. There is an urgent need to regulate the way AI is fed and used, in order to protect the work of press cartoonists.
