A federal judge has thrown out Meta’s bid to scrap a lawsuit brought by Strike 3 Holdings, the parent company behind popular adult sites such as Blacked, Vixen, and Tushy. The ruling confirms that the tech giant cannot simply claim ignorance regarding its own automated data harvesting.
What this means for creators and artists
This decision is a significant victory for digital rights holders, particularly those in the adult entertainment sector who have long been the primary targets for AI model training. It exposes the flawed logic that tech companies use to justify scraping vast quantities of copyrighted material. While the current generative AI boom has brought these issues to the forefront, adult content creators faced similar scraping practices years ago, often without recourse. This ruling validates their concerns and signals that platforms cannot hide behind corporate deniability when their own infrastructure is used to pirate content.
The evidence of a coordinated machine
Strike 3 Holdings first brought the case nearly a year ago. Internal emails surfaced in a separate legal battle revealed that Meta had downloaded more than 81 terabytes of data from Anna’s Archive, a massive torrent search engine hosting books, films, and adult videos. A subsequent investigation by Strike 3 Holdings identified 47 distinct IP addresses belonging to Meta used to torrent 2,396 of its videos a total of 6,008 times between 2018 and 2025.
Meta attempted to dismiss the case by arguing that the company did not intend to use the videos for AI training and that the downloads were the result of rogue employees accessing company resources on company time. Judge Eumi K. Lee of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California rejected this defence.
The judge found the evidence pointed to “a coordinated effort to gather data” rather than random employee behaviour. The investigation highlighted that Meta’s IP addresses downloaded files with similar naming conventions on the exact same day, spanning categories from pornography to cartoons and sitcoms. This suggested the downloads were driven by automated scripts searching for specific keywords rather than human curiosity.
The decision cited a striking example from December 15, 2022. On that single day, specific IP ranges torrented a mix of files including ‘Teen Sex Sessions 2 (2012)’, ‘Teen Titans Go to the Movies (2018)’, ‘Teens Love Tats XXX’, and ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987-1996)’. Simultaneously, a corporate IP address downloaded ‘TeenCurves.22.12.09.Willow’. The judge noted the obvious connection: the word ‘teen’ appeared in every single filename.
Consequently, the judge stated that Meta’s claim that independent employees were responsible for downloading dozens of files with identical keywords “strains credulity.”
The legal implications
Furthermore, the court ruled that Meta’s ultimate use of the data-whether for AI training or anything else-is irrelevant. The act of downloading and distributing the files constituted a violation of copyright. By torrenting the content, Meta not only illegally downloaded the files but also “seeded” them, distributing the pirated material to other users on the network.
The judge concluded that Strike 3 Holdings had plausibly alleged that Meta is liable for direct, vicarious, and contributory copyright infringement. Therefore, the motion to dismiss was denied, allowing the lawsuit to proceed.
Key takeaways
- Meta’s attempt to dismiss the lawsuit by blaming rogue employees was rejected by Judge Eumi K. Lee, who found the coordinated downloading patterns proved corporate liability.
- The court ruled that the intent to train AI models is not a defence; the illegal act of torrenting and seeding copyrighted material is sufficient for liability.
- This ruling provides a crucial legal precedent for adult content creators and other rights holders who have historically been scraped for data without consent.
