French Publishing Groups Sue Meta Over Alleged Unauthorized Use of Copyrighted Content for AI Training
France’s top publishing and authors' associations have taken legal action against U.S. tech giant Meta, accusing the company of using copyrighted content on a massive scale without authorization to train its artificial intelligence (AI) systems.
The National Publishing Union (SNE), the National Union of Authors and Composers (SNAC), and the Society of Men of Letters (SGDL) announced in a press conference on Wednesday that they had filed a lawsuit earlier this week in a Paris court, alleging copyright infringement and economic "parasitism." The associations claim Meta owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp has illegally utilized copyrighted materials to develop its AI models.
"We are witnessing monumental looting," said Maia Bensimon, general delegate of SNAC. SNE Director General Renaud Lefebvre described the case as "a David versus Goliath battle," emphasizing its potential to set a precedent.
This marks the first legal action of its kind in France against a major AI company. However, similar lawsuits have emerged globally, particularly in the United States, where authors, visual artists, music publishers, and other copyright holders have sued Meta and other tech firms over the data used to train generative AI models.
In 2023, American actress and author Sarah Silverman, along with other writers, sued Meta, alleging that their books were misused to train its large language model, Llama. Similarly, novelist Christopher Farnsworth filed a lawsuit against Meta in October 2024.
Beyond Meta, OpenAI—the company behind ChatGPT—faces multiple copyright lawsuits in the U.S., Canada, and India over the alleged unauthorized use of copyrighted content for AI training.
