No, Studio Ghibli Didn’t Send Developer Cease & Desist Order for Ghibli Art App

Studio Ghibli told Japanese news outlet NHK that the letter was fake and that they had not issued it.

A fake letter has gone viral on social media with the false claim that Japan's studio Ghibli sent a Cease and Desist letter to a developer over an app mimicking their art style.

(Source: X/Altered by The Quint)

An X (formerly Twitter) user '@tj_littlejohn', who claimed to create an app called 'Gib', where users could upload photos mimicking the art style of Japanese animation house Studio Ghibli, shared a post claiming that the studio had sent him a 'Cease and Desist' order over the application.

• The claim comes amid an extremely popular social media trend, where users submit their photos to OpenAI's ChatGPT, asking it to reimagine them as Ghibli-style portraits.

An archived version of this post can be seen here.

(Source: X/Screenshot)

(Archives of more posts sharing this letter can be seen here and here.)

But...?: The letter is fake. Studio Ghibli has categorically denied sending such an order to any entity.

How did we find out the truth?: To start with, we looked up the name of the law firm that had sent the letter, identified as 'Sakura & Hoshino LLP' in the viral claim.

• We found several results related to characters with the same name in the fantasy video games series Final Fantasy XIV and a manga series called Parallel.

• The search also showed us a volleyball player with this name, but did not show any results for a law firm or a legal entity.

• On X, we noticed that a few users had attempted to contact the company, but their emails had failed to deliver on account of the email address not existing.

See this user's post here.

(Source: X/Screenshot)

• We then looked up the contact number mentioned in the letter on Google, which reverted with multiple news reports about why '555' as digits in a US-based phone number was often used in media, such as ones by The Guardian and CBC Canada.

• These reports indicated that several phone numbers with the prefix 555 were fictitious in nature, and that "phone companies reserved 555-0100 through to 555-0199 for fictional use."

Together, these details indicate that the company does not exist and point towards the letter being fake.

Did Studio Ghibli issue any warning?: To check whether Studio Ghibli had commented on the viral claim, we looked for more information on the internet.

• This led us to a report by Japanese news organisation by Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK), which carried a statement by the studio, who clarified that the letter was fake.

• Studio Ghibli told NHK, "We have not issued a warning letter," adding that the post carried a 'fake letter'.

This is translated version of NHK's report, which carries Studio Ghibli's statement about the viral claim.

(Source: NHK/Screenshot)

Conclusion: A fake letter has gone viral with the false claim that Japan's Studio Ghibli issued a Cease and Desist letter to a person who was attempting to make an application where people could mimic their art style.

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