Meta Sued for Training AI with 81.7TB of Copyrighted Data
Meta, the parent company of the social networking platform Facebook, is currently facing a class-action lawsuit over its alleged use of copyrighted materials to train its artificial intelligence models. The lawsuit accuses Meta of copyright infringement and unfair competition, among other violations.
Court Documents
Court documents reveal that Meta downloaded approximately 81.7TB of data using BitTorrent (BT) and similar protocols from sources such as Anna’s Archive, Z-Library, and LibGen. This vast dataset was subsequently employed in training the company’s AI models.
Internal written communications indicate that Meta was fully aware of these activities. As early as October 2022, a Meta AI researcher expressed ethical concerns, stating: “I don’t think we should use pirated material. I really need to draw a line here.” Another researcher echoed these concerns, remarking: “SciHub, ResearchGate, LibGen are basically like PirateBay or something like that, they are distributing content that is protected by copyright and they’re infringing it.”
Employees also voiced unease about downloading torrent files on company-issued laptops, believing it felt inappropriate. However, in a January 2023 meeting attended by Mark Zuckerberg himself, the Meta CEO reportedly stated: “We need to move this stuff forward… we need to find a way to unblock all this.”
Despite these efforts, downloading torrent files over Meta’s corporate network was inherently traceable. One employee raised concerns that Meta’s IP addresses could be linked to the retrieval of pirated content. In response, Meta allegedly instructed its staff to implement measures ensuring that the company’s infrastructure would not be used to download or seed pirated materials, thereby avoiding direct association with the illicit activity.
According to court filings, these records serve as evidence of unlawful conduct, suggesting that Meta deliberately took steps to circumvent copyright laws.
Legal Proceedings
The class-action lawsuit against Meta remains ongoing, and the court has yet to rule on whether the company engaged in direct copyright infringement. However, even if Meta loses, an appeal is almost certain.
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