🔗 Share this article

It's not just you imagining things: this viral character is an actual phenomenon online that people are getting emotional about. As Steal a Brainrot shatters user records in Roblox and Fortnite, the meme-driven game has faced more scrutiny. And it turns out, it's not okay to create a game out of content you haven't created. At least not when you are earning revenue off the experience.

What Is Steal a Brainrot and Why Massive Popularity?

For those who are familiar with it, SABR has become an online phenomenon by merging popular gen Alpha digital jokes with mechanics designed around the era of YouTube thumbnail reactions. Players gather monsters inspired by obscure internet jokes. Several of these characters combine common creatures with man-made items, creating a surreal goldmine. Imagine absurd memes by way of collectible games. These creatures all have worth, and their value increases the longer that you own them. True to its title, SABR allows players to purloin your creatures. While many young adults who grew up on the platform are playing Steal a Brainrot, part of its hype is its younger audience. Kids get attached to their brainrots and get upset upon losing them, even though that's the game's design. Older players play Steal a Brainrot often to troll children. This exemplary microcosm of the human condition under modern economics is now literally one of the most popular games on the planet.

Story of This Viral Character

Tung Tung Tung Sahur is among numerous obtainable creatures in Steal a Brainrot, or at least it was. Tung Tung is a wooden drum with a blank, soulless stare who wields a baseball bat, and it is a part of the Indonesian Brainrot collection. Interestingly, many characters have a local origin associated. Many of the well-known ones stem from the Italian brainrot collection, but different countries have their own assortment. The brainrots popular in Spain might be unlike the ones in Russia, as an instance, but occasionally you'll get that breaks through to the mainstream. These become the figures you'll likely find in the game.

And they're huge. Regarding this character, a quick Google search will reveal videos with millions of views. One example alone has enormous engagement, sufficient for YouTube to deem it the 67th most popular music videos globally. Here's where it gets interesting, though. Although the character was first made with the help of AI, and most people making content with the character also rely on AI. Nevertheless, an individual had to come up with the original concept, right? Here, Tung Tung is the brainchild of an Indonesian TikToker, behind dozens of meme figures. Noxa's creations has made significant influence that the Italian brainrot wiki refers to them as "a modern genius."

Copyright Conflict and AI-Created Ownership

Recently, it appears that the creator contacted Sammy of Steal a Brainrot via an representative called Mememtum Lab. The agency claims that during this exchange, the developer immediately got legal counsel and proactively pulled Tung Tung Tung Sahur from the game recently. The agency maintains that it never requested Sammy to remove the character; if anything, it appears that the creator would like to work out a deal of some sort for its ongoing inclusion.

"Steal a Brainrot is earning substantial revenue using created content, in which we dedicate time and resources," reads a statement. "We remained willing for discussion and the creator would be pleased for the players to keep playing with the character. This situation is unjust regarding our partners (small and big studios) who have acquired our license in all fairness."

Can You Copyrighting AI-Created Work?

A major issue here is, can you actually claim rights to an AI-generated image? Often, the answer appears no. Legal ownership applies to media made through human creativity. If you're using an AI image generator, it's debated that the technology, not the person, is the source of that originality, although the human is providing the prompts. There are asterisks to these rules around copyright, which might vary depending on the jurisdiction involved. While participants involved in this dispute live in various places of the world, the entities at the center of the matter are U.S.-based. Do Big Studios, which owns Steal a Brainrot, is based in Florida. The platform's HQ is in California, while The title creator its studio is from North Carolina.

And in the U.S., the law is working to keep pace with progress in AI. Recently, a guideline by the federal agency stated that "results of AI tools can be protected by copyright only where a human author has determined meaningful creativity." A handful of recent cases have seen attempts to claim AI work not succeed, but court rulings is still viewed as in-flux as a whole. A further complication here is that Steal a Brainrot has been approved for usage on services beyond Roblox, such as Fortnite. The particulars of revenue sharing from a game that depends significantly on user-generated content which itself might be AI-created seems like a complex issue.

Fan Reaction and What's Next?

Wherever Tung Tung Tung Sahur ends up, the game players are mourning its removal from the game. Online, there are videos of upset, alarmed, and emotional fans shocked that such a central figure to the game world is now absent. Videos honoring the character are attracting huge numbers, and jokes showing it with a halo are frequently seen in online discussions about him. Meanwhile, the creator, the originator of the meme, is facing criticism by angry users in the responses as well. In a video with massive reach, a highly-liked remark states, "You did this because of your self-interest." Interestingly, the comment appends an image of Martin Luther King crying. Apart from valuing the character, part of the outcry seems to be rooted in the misinformation that the legal dispute is possibly going to get the game deleted.

"A relative who’s in middle school said there were kids upset about this incidentally," reads a post on X from a YouTuber with 14 million subscribers, who will be hosting an event for the character live on the platform soon. Although hours away, as of this writing there are a couple of hundred people anticipating for the Tung Tung vigil. I'd say farewell to the character, except anyone can still create visuals of the wooden monstrosity if they want.