Meta Accused: 2,900 Adult Films and $446 Million Demanded

An adult studio is suing Meta for up to $446 million, accusing it of collecting over 2,900 of its works through BitTorrent to train models such as Movie Gen. The complaint also involves an IP address linked to a member of Reality Labs. Meta contests any involvement by the company and argues that these would be personal uses. The U.S. courts are set to rule on the consolidation of the cases and on Meta's potential liability.

Two Expected Court Decisions and a Disputed Use of X Content

The U.S. courts are to decide on the possibility of linking the case against Meta to a "John Doe" matter and on the question of the company's liability for downloads attributed to its employees. Several experts believe it is unlikely that Meta would use pornographic content to train its consumer AIs. Meta rejects the allegations against it.

Strike 3's Allegations: BitTorrent, 2,900 Films, and a Reality Labs Executive

Strike 3 Holdings accuses Meta of downloading over 2,900 of its films via BitTorrent to train artificial intelligence models, specifically citing Movie Gen, and is seeking up to $446 million. The studio aims to connect its complaint to a "John Doe" case concerning a residential IP address, a term that refers to an anonymous person in U.S. law, which would allegedly belong to an executive at Reality Labs, Meta's division dedicated to virtual and mixed reality. Nearly 20,000 files are said to have been downloaded via BitTorrent, including many virtual reality pornographic films as well as packages of series, books, or software, according to the plaintiff. Strike 3 believes such a number exceeds what a single person could watch during their leisure time and indicates that the first downloads via this private IP address occurred just hours after a first cease-and-desist letter was sent to Meta regarding its professional IP addresses. The studio accuses Meta of shifting its data collection operations to the employee's personal connection to avoid detection. It also argues that its adult videos represent rare and valuable data for training AIs due to their high definition, the nuance of human interactions, and the level of detail in facial expressions, elements that would allow models to learn to replicate complex movements with high realism.

Meta's Position: Personal Uses and No Evidence of a Mandate

Meta asserts that the downloads detected on its networks are strictly personal uses carried out by employees, contractors, or visitors. The company argues that the activities associated with the Reality Labs executive's IP address also fall under personal use and cannot be attributed to it. Meta clarifies that there is no evidence that these files were downloaded on behalf of the company. Reality Labs is the division of Meta responsible for developing virtual and mixed reality.