PARIS, March 12 (Reuters) – A coalition of France’s top publishing and authors’ associations has launched legal action against Meta (META.O), accusing the tech giant of widespread copyright infringement. The associations claim that Meta used copyrighted material without authorization to train its artificial intelligence (AI) systems.
Representatives from Meta have not yet provided a statement in response to the allegations.
The National Publishing Union (SNE), the National Union of Authors and Composers (SNAC), and the Society of Men of Letters (SGDL) – organizations dedicated to protecting the rights of authors and publishers – announced the lawsuit at a press conference earlier this week. The complaint, filed in a Paris court, centers on claims of copyright infringement and economic “parasitism.” The associations contend that Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, unlawfully utilized protected content to develop its AI models.
“We are witnessing monumental looting,” stated Maia Bensimon, general delegate of SNAC.
Renaud Lefebvre, Director General of SNE, commented, “It’s a bit of a David versus Goliath battle. It’s a procedure that serves as an example.”
This marks the first such legal challenge against an AI leader in France. However, the lawsuit is part of a broader trend, with similar cases emerging in the United States, targeting both Meta and other technology firms. These cases involve authors, visual artists, music publishers, and other copyright holders who are contesting the use of their works to train generative AI systems.
In the U.S., Meta is currently facing a lawsuit initiated in 2023 by American actress and author Sarah Silverman and other writers. The plaintiffs allege that Meta misused their books to train its large language model, Llama.
American novelist Christopher Farnsworth also filed a similar lawsuit against Meta in October 2024.
OpenAI, the company behind the AI tool ChatGPT, is also facing multiple lawsuits in the United States, Canada, and India related to this issue.
Reporting by Florence Loeve, Writing by Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Angus MacSwan
