Source Ars Technica · Published · Open the original ↗
Labs
Meta tries to scapegoat staff who downloaded torrents to spare execs
Meta argues nobody “decided” to pirate books to train AI.
In copyright lawsuits over AI training, Meta has spent weeks blaming staff for downloading torrents. The company has now been ordered to name executives who authorized decisions to pirate books from shadow libraries like Anna’s Archive and LibGen, TorrentFreak reported .
In a discovery order impacting a class action raised by book authors, including Richard Kadrey and Sarah Silverman, as well as a lawsuit from publisher Entrepreneur Media, Magistrate Judge Thomas Hixon largely agreed that Meta must clearly identify key decision-makers. Following testimony from Meta staff who downloaded torrents, the order could expose a wider range of supervisors, managers, and executives whom staffers said greenlit the piracy.
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