Team Trump Trolls Taylor Swift With Song Use Before Copyright Claim Brings Silence; Deadline, August 8, 2026

Greg Evans, Deadline ; Team Trump Trolls Taylor Swift With Song Use Before Copyright Claim Brings Silence

"A TikTok video posted to the White House account earlier this week depicted the president and First Lady Melania Trump from behind as they watched a fireworks display in a night sky. The text over the photo read, “Mood because it’s August and Donald Trump is your president.” 

The video was accompanied by the Swift song “august,” and at the bottom of image was a note from “Team Trump” saying, “I’m sure @Taylor Swift is going to be super excited we used her song!”

The trolling was short lived though. By last night, both the song (from Swift’s Folklore album) and the teasing note were removed from the account, replaced with a message in the U.S. reading, “The copyright owner hasn’t made this sound available in your country.”"

White House fires back after Noah Kahan says he’d ‘never approve’ Trump administration using his music; Entertainment Weekly, July 29, 2026

 Shania Russell

Shania Russell

Shania Russell is a news writer at Entertainment Weekly, with five years of experience. Her work has previously appeared in SlashFilm and Paste Magazine.

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 Entertainment Weekly; White House fires back after Noah Kahan says he’d ‘never approve’ Trump administration using his music

"Noah Kahan is joining the growing list of musicians who don’t want to be associated with the Trump administration.

On Monday, President Donald Trump and the official White House social media account marked his recent visit to the General Motors facility in Michigan by sharing a carousel of photos and video, one of which featured Kahan’s song, “American Cars.”

“Nothing like American cars,” the White House captioned a TikTok video of Trump signing a Corvette at the facility.

After several fans called attention to the use of Kahan’s song to promote Trump’s Michigan visit, the folk singer was quick to pump the brakes on the song choice.

“Would never approve of my music being used in support of you or this administration,” the singer commented beneath Trump’s post."

Katy Perry blasts White House use of song on Iran strike TikTok: ‘Deeply appalled’; The Hill, July 25, 2026

MIRA BHAKTA, The Hill ; Katy Perry blasts White House use of song on Iran strike TikTok: ‘Deeply appalled'

"Pop singer Katy Perry on Saturday criticized the unauthorized use of her music in the background of a White House TikTok video showing strikes on Iranian targets.

The White House used her viral song “Firework” in the background of a video showing a missile blowing up a naval ship in Iran. It has garnered over 6 million views and 616,000 likes with the caption reading, “Iran has been warned.”"

Hackers Expose How AI Music App Suno Stole Decades Worth of Copyrighted Music; Futurism, July 17, 2026

Maggie Harrison Dupré, Futurism; Hackers Expose How AI Music App Suno Stole Decades Worth of Copyrighted Music

The evidence is damning.

"A hack revealed in detail how AI music generating app Suno scraped millions of songs, likely including copyrighted ones, from across the web to feed into its AI model, 404 Media reports.

Suno, which is currently embroiled in multiple ongoing copyright lawsuits, has already admitted in response to legal action that it used “essentially all music files of reasonable quality that are accessible on the open internet” to train its music-generating AI."

Japan underlines stance on copyright works after Trump anime video post; Kyodo News, Japan Wire, June 12, 2026

Kyodo News, Japan Wire; Japan underlines stance on copyright works after Trump anime video post

"A Japanese minister on Friday underlined the government's stance on unauthorized use of copyrighted works, after U.S. President Donald Trump posted a video on social media appearing to depict him as the hero of anime series "Naruto."

Without commenting directly on the video, Kimi Onoda, minister for the "Cool Japan" strategy of promoting Japanese cultural exports, told a press conference that the "basic principle" of obtaining permission from rights holders to use copyrighted material "applies equally when the user is a public institution."

CNN Sues AI Firm Perplexity For Copyright Infringement; Deadline, May 28, 2026

 Jill Goldsmith, Deadline; CNN Sues AI Firm Perplexity For Copyright Infringement

"CNN is the latest to sue Perplexity for copyright infringement, alleging the AI firm “has unlawfully copied over 10,000 CNN stories, videos, images, and other works to power its products and tools.”

The suit said the two sides tried but failed to reach an agreement in 2025 and Perplexity continued ripping off CNN content and claiming a relationship with the news network that does not exist despite repeated warnings that the moves are illegal."

STEPHEN COLBERT USES COPYRIGHTED ‘PEANUTS’ MUSIC DURING FINALE: ‘I HOPE THIS DOESN’T COST CBS ANY MONEY!’; Rolling Stone, May 22, 2026

ELISABETH GARBER-PAUL , Rolling Stone; STEPHEN COLBERT USES COPYRIGHTED ‘PEANUTS’ MUSIC DURING FINALE: ‘I HOPE THIS DOESN’T COST CBS ANY MONEY!’

"During the final episode of The Late Show, host Stephen Colbert purposely used copyrighted music during a segment, a move that could potentially cost his former bosses at CBS a lot of dough if the music was unauthorized, and the usage were to end in a lawsuit.

“Peanuts is a powerful brand and corporation in and of itself. Anyone illegally using that music is going to have to pay through the nose,” he said, before addressing his band leader, Louis Cato. “Louis, Louis! Is the band right now playing the same Peanuts music I just said people were being sued for, for using without permission? Is that what you’re doing?” The band was indeed launching into the familiar Vince Guaraldi song. “Oh no, I hope this doesn’t cost CBS any money!” Colbert said."