PARIS – French publishers and authors have launched legal action against Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, accusing it of using copyrighted books to train its generative artificial intelligence models without authorization.
The lawsuit, announced on Wednesday by three prominent French organizations—the publishers’ association Syndicat National de l’Édition (SNE), and the authors’ and composers’ groups Société des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) and Syndicat National des Auteurs et des Compositeurs (SNAC)—alleges that Meta engaged in “massive use of copyrighted works” without proper consent from the rights holders.
“We have established the presence of many works published by SNE members in the body of data used by Meta,” said Vincent Montagne, president of SNE, in a joint statement issued by the three organizations.
The statement also accused Meta of economic “parasitism,” arguing that the tech giant unfairly benefits from creative works without providing compensation.
Meta’s Use of Copyrighted Books in AI Training
Meta has previously admitted to using the Books3 dataset to train its Llama large language model. This dataset reportedly contains the full texts of approximately 200,000 books, including works in French.
The company acknowledged in a separate U.S. court case filed by authors that it had utilized the dataset until 2023, arguing that its use of copyrighted materials fell under the doctrine of “fair use.”
However, French publishers and authors firmly reject this defense. They contend that Meta’s actions amount to intellectual property theft on a grand scale.
“We are witnessing monumental looting,” said Maia Bensimon, general delegate of SNAC, emphasizing the gravity of the situation for French literary creators.
Legal Implications and Industry Impact
The lawsuit, filed at the Paris judicial court, seeks to establish accountability for the unauthorized use of literary works in AI development.
The French organizations have not yet publicly disclosed an estimated value for the damages they believe Meta’s actions have caused.
However, they are pressing for a legal precedent that would compel AI developers to recognize and fairly compensate the creative industries whose works fuel machine learning models.
Christophe Hardy, president of SGDL, urged AI companies to adhere to legal frameworks and consider compensating creators for their contributions.
“This case should lead to a serious desire emerging on the part of AIs to take the creative industries into account,” Hardy stated.
He called on developers to “respect the legal framework and, where relevant, find compensation for the use of works that feed into” AI technologies.
A Growing Global Debate on AI and Copyright
The lawsuit is part of a broader international debate over the ethical and legal boundaries of AI training.
Writers, artists, and musicians worldwide have raised concerns over the unauthorized use of copyrighted materials by tech giants developing AI-powered applications.
Meta is not the only company facing legal scrutiny over this issue. Several similar lawsuits have been filed against AI firms, including OpenAI, over claims that they used copyrighted texts without permission to train their models.
The outcome of these cases could set significant precedents for AI development and the protection of intellectual property rights.
As the legal battle unfolds in France, the publishing industry will be closely watching the proceedings, which could influence how AI developers operate and interact with the creative sector in the future.
This article was created using automation technology and was thoroughly edited and fact-checked by one of our editorial staff members
