Meta faces a lawsuit that can now go to trial.
A U.S. district judge rejected Meta’s bid to toss out a copyright case brought by Strike 3 Holdings and Counterlife Media. The plaintiffs allege Meta used BitTorrent to download more than 2,300 porn movies between 2018 and 2025, then fed them to its AI models. The judge said the complaint plausibly shows direct, vicarious and contributory infringement, and noted the implausibility of human‑like download patterns from corporate IP addresses. Damage claims top $359 million.
If the case proceeds, it could set a precedent for how courts treat mass‑scale data scraping for AI training, especially when the source material is copyrighted. Companies may need to rethink data‑gathering practices or face costly litigation, and lawmakers could see renewed pressure to clarify AI‑related copyright rules.
While Meta called the claims “nonsensical,” the judge’s remarks suggest the court is taking the technical evidence seriously—a reminder that AI developers can’t hide behind vague “personal use” defenses.