Meta and Mark Zuckerberg sued over Llama copyright infringement
Updated
Updated · The Associated Press · May 5
Meta and Mark Zuckerberg sued over Llama copyright infringement
17 articles · Updated · The Associated Press · May 5
Five publishers and author Scott Turow filed the class action in Manhattan federal court, alleging Zuckerberg personally authorised use of millions of books and journal articles.
The complaint says Meta reproduced and distributed copyrighted works without permission or payment to train Llama, while Meta says AI training can be fair use and it will fight.
The case broadens the publishing industry's clash with AI developers; plaintiffs include Elsevier, Cengage, Hachette, Macmillan and McGraw Hill, following other author lawsuits including Anthropic's $1.5bn settlement.
As Meta is sued for using pirated data, can we ever truly know what's inside the AI we use daily?
With courts divided on fair use, is a Supreme Court showdown over AI and copyright now inevitable?
If an AI can perfectly mimic any author's style, what is the future value of human creativity?
Meta Faces Class-Action Over Pirated Data: 81 Terabytes of Copyrighted Works Used for Llama AI
Overview
In April 2026, five major publishers and author Scott Turow filed a class-action lawsuit against Meta and Mark Zuckerberg, accusing them of using over 81 terabytes of pirated books and articles from shadow libraries like LibGen and Sci-Hub to train Meta's AI model, Llama. Internal evidence shows Meta researchers knowingly downloaded and shared this copyrighted content, with Zuckerberg approving the practice despite risks. Llama can mimic the styles of specific authors, threatening the market for original works. This lawsuit highlights growing legal risks for AI companies, pushing the industry toward licensing agreements to protect creators and reduce litigation.