What Meta pulled off here is simply an absolute disgrace. In case you haven’t heard, the company Meta (Facebook, Instagram, etc.) illegally downloaded 7.5 million books and academic papers and fed them into their own artificial intelligence (AI) “Llama 3.” And they even consider themselves justified, believing this action was done in the interest of science and education. Mark Zuckerberg should be ashamed of himself.
I stumbled upon this scandal by chance on TikTok, and I simply can’t believe it. A company that, according to Capital, has a market value of $1.45 trillion (2024) is stealing books worth a value that’s probably impossible to estimate. According to The Atlantic, “these books come from the online database Library Genesis (LibGen), which is known for [author’s note: illegal] sharing of copyrighted works.”1Warning: Behind a paywall
The Atlantic article also revealed: “According to internal communications disclosed during a copyright dispute, Meta employees chose to use LibGen to save the costs and time associated with legally acquiring books. This decision was apparently made with the approval of CEO Mark Zuckerberg.”
Authors fight back against massive theft
According to The Author’s Guild, a leading advocacy group for writers in the U.S., works from a wide variety of genres and authors of all sizes were captured. As I mentioned earlier, The Atlantic published a detailed report and even provided a tool for those affected to check whether their work has been stolen.
The outrage in the writing community is, of course, enormous. Many authors earn their living from the sales of their books—but when these are simply copied by large corporations and used to develop AI models, they are denied any control or compensation.
Many authors have already spoken out via various social media, and Jay Kristoff probably did it best with his response2Instagrampost (see image: red arrow) to a post by Zuckerberg on Threads.
3Fill out the form under “Take Action” has also created a template4Fill out the form under “Take Action” that authors can use to write to Meta stating that the company does not have the right to use their work.
A slap in the face for authors and readers
For us readers, this data theft is an absolute disgrace; most of us are also strictly against these piracy sites that keep popping up.
Authors invest years in their works, and now their content is simply being used to make Meta’s AI models more powerful – without consultation or compensation. All Meta employees should be ashamed of themselves!
The debate about AI training and copyright is becoming increasingly heated. While companies like Meta argue that they need the data for “scientific purposes” and “technological progress” [Editor’s note: a hypocritical excuse in my opinion], the fundamental ethical question remains: Is it permissible to simply plunder intellectual property on a massive scale? I also wonder why the calls of other artists, such as illustrators, painters, etc., have not been heeded more.
I simply entered a few German names into the provided tool. I found Andreas Eschbach (145 results in various languages), Emily Bähr and Liane Mars (1 result each), as well as Martin Krist (12 German results), and Thomas Mann (200 results in various languages). D.C. Odesza also came up with 22 results.
Even former US presidents like Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush as well as other politicians like Angela Merkel, were included.
Legal action and uncertain future for international authors
The Author’s Guild is already part of a class-action lawsuit against Meta in California – however, this apparently only affects US authors. A lawsuit also appears to be pending in Paris, but it’s unclear whether it represents all EU authors or is limited to French authors. The situation regarding Australian or other affected authors is currently unclear.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any precise data on this, despite intensive research.
I think German authors who have published through publishers can only inquire with the publishers themselves, and their legal departments will have their work cut out for them in the coming weeks and months. For self-publishers, who once again take the hardest hit, a visit to a lawyer will probably be unavoidable.
How can the book community react now?
A consistent boycott of Meta products would definitely send a strong message—but the question remains as to how realistic that is for the general public. Meta operates Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads, platforms that many people cannot imagine without, both professionally and personally.
This morning, I noticed that I suddenly had Meta AI on WhatsApp. I immediately looked for a solution to remove it.
If you really want to hit Meta, targeted protests could be more effective:
- Public criticism: Authors, readers, and creatives could voice their dissatisfaction – for example, via alternative social networks or by complaining directly to Meta.
- Support affected authors: Buy books directly from the authors instead of using platforms that benefit from AI-powered content.
- Promote legal and political action: Petitions and initiatives for stricter copyright laws at the international level could achieve more than an individual boycott.
I came across the following tip via The Author’s Guild:
- Protect your works: Add a “NO AI TRAINING” notice on the copyright page of your works. For online work, you can update your website’s robots.txt file to block AI bots.
This may also be important for bloggers. Raptive provides instructions for blocking AI crawlers.
Ultimately, the question remains whether Meta would respond to such a protest—or whether they would simply continue as long as there are no serious financial or legal consequences for them. But one thing is clear: the fight for intellectual property protection is far from over.
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- 1Warning: Behind a paywall
- 2Instagrampost
- 3Fill out the form under “Take Action”
- 4Fill out the form under “Take Action”
