Zuckerberg Personally Named in Lawsuit Alleging He Approved Meta's AI Training Copyright Infringement

The Lawsuit

Five publishers - Hachette, Macmillan, McGraw Hill, Elsevier, and Cengage - along with author Scott Turow filed a proposed class-action suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Meta and Mark Zuckerberg personally. The suit alleges Meta illegally copied millions of copyrighted books, articles, and other works from piracy sites to train its Llama AI systems.

The Personal Liability Angle

What distinguishes this suit is the naming of Zuckerberg individually as a defendant. Plaintiffs allege he personally authorized and actively encouraged the mass downloading of copyrighted material from notorious pirate sites. The complaint describes this as one of the most massive infringements of copyrighted materials in history.

Meta's Defense

A Meta spokesperson stated that courts have rightly found that training AI on copyrighted material can qualify as fair use and said the company would fight this lawsuit aggressively.

Precedent and Prospects

In June 2025, a federal judge rejected a copyright infringement claim brought against Meta by 13 authors including Sarah Silverman and Junot Diaz. That precedent makes this case an uphill battle. However, the direct CEO liability theory could create new legal exposure for AI companies beyond just the training data question itself.