Meta faces publisher copyright AI lawsuit in France

Meta is facing an AI copyright lawsuit in France that’s been brought by authors and publishers who are accusing it of economic “parasitism,” Reuters reports.

The French litigation was filed in a Paris court this week by the National Publishing Union (SNE), the National Union of Authors and Composers (SNAC), and the Society of People of Letters (SGDL), which are accusing Meta of unlawfully training its AI models on their protected content.

The case is thought to be the first such action against an AI giant in the country. Meta is facing similar litigation in the U.S. in relation to the alleged use of unlicensed protected material to train its large language models, such as Llama.

Reporting on comments made by the publishing associations at a press conference on Wednesday, Reuters quotes Maia Bensimon, the general delegate of SNAC, who alleged Meta is guilty of “monumental looting.” The SNE’s director general, Renaud Lefebvre, also dubbed the legal fight that the publishers are embarking on as a “David versus Goliath battle.”

Meta has been contacted for comment.