Meta Seeks Dismissal of Lawsuit Alleging Porn Downloads for AI Training
Key Points
- Meta filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit alleging illegal porn downloads for AI training.
- Strike 3 claims Meta accessed about 2,400 adult movies over seven years starting in 2018.
- Meta argues the downloads were sporadic, likely for personal use, and not used to train AI.
- The company labels Strike 3 as a "copyright troll" and rejects the claim of a hidden IP network.
- Strike 3 has two weeks to respond to Meta's motion to dismiss.
Meta has filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit that claims the company illegally downloaded pornography to train its artificial‑intelligence models. The plaintiff, Strike 3 Holdings, alleges that Meta’s corporate IP addresses were used to torrent adult films over several years, and that a hidden network of IP addresses concealed the activity. Meta counters that the downloads were sporadic, likely for personal use, and that there is no evidence the content was used to train any AI system. The company asks the court to drop all copyright claims.
Background of the Lawsuit
Strike 3 Holdings filed a lawsuit accusing Meta of illegally torrenting its adult films to train artificial‑intelligence models. The complaint says that Meta’s corporate IP addresses accessed a large number of Strike 3’s movies and that a "stealth network" of hidden IP addresses was used to conceal the downloads.
Meta’s Motion to Dismiss
In a motion to dismiss, Meta denied the allegations, describing the plaintiff’s claims as "guesswork and innuendo" and labeling Strike 3 as a "copyright troll" that files extortive lawsuits. Meta argued that there is no evidence the company directed any of the alleged downloads, was aware of them, or used the content to train AI.
Alleged Download Activity
The lawsuit says that about 2,400 adult movies owned by Strike 3 were downloaded from Meta IP addresses over a period of seven years, beginning in 2018. Meta highlighted that the volume of downloads was low—approximately 22 downloads per year—and that the activity was intermittent, with only a few dozen titles obtained one file at a time.
Meta’s Explanation
Meta contended that the limited and uncoordinated activity points to personal consumption rather than a concerted effort to build a training dataset. The company noted that its terms prohibit generating adult content and that there is no factual basis linking any employee, contractor, or vendor to the alleged downloads. Meta also emphasized that monitoring every file downloaded across its global network would be extraordinarily complex.
Legal Implications
Strike 3 has two weeks to respond to Meta’s motion. If the court grants the dismissal, Meta would avoid potential damages and reinforce its stance that it does not train AI models on explicit material.