Writers Protest Outside Meta’s London Headquarters, Accusing Company of Using Copyrighted Literary Works to Train AI Models
Approximately 100 authors participated in a protest, urging the American social media giant to keep its “hands” off their work. In the same matter, artists and writers have previously sought legal remedies against the company.
Meta Accused of “Stealing” Content
According to reports, protesters carried signs and chanted “Meta, Meta, book thieves” as they marched toward the Meta building. The protest followed an investigation by The Atlantic, which revealed that the company founded by tech maverick Mark Zuckerberg has been using the pirate library Libgen to train its AI assets. The Atlantic claims that Meta has utilized over 7.5 million books and 81 million research papers to train its AI.
This revelation confirms suspicions arising from a case in U.S. courts, where several authors have alleged that Zuckerberg and Meta executives were aware that Libgen did not properly acquire books from copyright holders but continued to use them nonetheless. Now, the angry writers have surrounded the London office of the social media company, voicing their grievances in a manner similar to protests held at the U.S. company’s offices. The protest writers conveyed a strong message to Meta on their signs.
“I will write a sign, but you will steal it.”
Protest writers also referenced the company’s founder and CEO Zuckerberg with signs stating “Remove Zuck from our books.”
Writers Feel Abused
One of the protesting artists, AJ West, who authored “Spirit Engineers,” expressed to AFP that he felt “abused and disgusted” when he discovered his work in the database. West attempted to send a letter to Meta, signed by prominent authors such as Kate Mosse and Richard Osman, but found the company’s doors locked.
“It’s telling that a company that thinks it’s appropriate to steal billions of words is now afraid of having 500 words on a piece of paper. That’s insult to injury,” West stated. He called on the UK government to intervene, condemning Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy’s silence over what he termed “the greatest attack on British copyright history.” West said, “It took years for my work, which I poured my soul into, and it’s nauseating to think it’s being used to make more money for tech billionaires without my permission.”
Another artist and writer, Sophie Parkin, remarked that the situation is “a life changer for everyone because it shifts the focus of writing.”
“They aren’t even creating anything; they’re stealing our words and then profiting from it,” Parkin said, sporting a hat emblazoned with the words “AI Pay Authors.”
Writers Vow to Continue the Fight as Meta Defends Its Actions
The Society of Authors (SOA), representing a collective of 12,000 writers, convened to express discontent over this discovery. “A book can take a year or longer to write. Meta has stolen books so that their AI can reproduce creative content, potentially putting these same authors out of business,” SOA chair Vanessa Fox O’Loughlin told The Guardian.
Writers have made several attempts to elicit condemnation from the UK government regarding Meta. During today’s protest, renowned authors including Richard Osman, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Val McDermid wrote to Lisa Nandy, seeking parliamentary attention on the matter. Major publishers most affected by piracy have thrown their weight behind the writers.
Tom Weldon, CEO of Penguin Random House UK, stated they believe in the cause advocated by the authors. “We will vigorously defend the intellectual property rights of authors and artists, and we support the Authors’ Association Action Day to protest Meta’s blatant disregard for copyright-protected works,” Weldon said. He added, “We firmly believe that the unauthorized ingestion of copyrighted material to train generative AI models is an infringement of copyright, and we share the authors’ frustrations and concerns.”
Despite the protests, Meta denies any wrongdoing, asserting that they respect intellectual property rights. The company stated through a spokesperson, “We respect third-party intellectual property and believe our use of information to train AI models is consistent with existing laws.” As a company, they contend that their contributions to AI will aid intelligence.
In recent weeks, Meta has faced turmoil in Europe, with Turkish authorities imposing significant fines after the company refused to comply with a suspension order for Facebook and Instagram services during protests. The global book market is struggling as the AI market flourishes, leaving writers feeling that part of that growth comes at a cost.
