Back to today’s briefing

Story perspectives

Publishers Sue Meta Over 267TB Pirated Books for Llama AI

5/8/2026

42 4 Full Breakdown

Summary

Story summary

The complaint alleges Meta torrented over 267 TB of pirated books and articles to train Llama AI.
Five publishers and author Scott Turow filed a class-action suit against Meta and CEO Mark Zuckerberg in New York.
Meta says it will fight aggressively and claims AI training on copyrighted material may be fair use.
The filing notes Meta halted a $200 million licensing budget after Zuckerberg allegedly directed reliance on unlicensed data.

History

Historical Context

After the RIAA’s 1997 filing of three copyright suits against early MP3 sites, the industry escalated to a 1999 lawsuit against Napster, which courts ordered shut down in 2001 for facilitating massive infringement. That precedent underpins today’s class-action against Meta, accusing it of using 267 TB of copyrighted text to train Llama AI and risking multi-billion-dollar damages.

1 of 2

Story summary

The complaint alleges Meta torrented over 267 TB of pirated books and articles to train Llama AI.
Five publishers and author Scott Turow filed a class-action suit against Meta and CEO Mark Zuckerberg in New York.
Meta says it will fight aggressively and claims AI training on copyrighted material may be fair use.
The filing notes Meta halted a $200 million licensing budget after Zuckerberg allegedly directed reliance on unlicensed data.

1 / 2