CNN sues Perplexity for unlawfully copying news content
CNN filed a lawsuit against Perplexity in New York federal court on May 28, 2026, alleging the AI search engine provider unlawfully copied thousands of CNN stories, videos and images and distributes identical or substantially similar competing content. CNN is seeking monetary damages and a court order blocking Perplexity from violating its intellectual property rights.
What happened
CNN filed a lawsuit against Perplexity in New York federal court on May 28, 2026, alleging the AI search engine provider unlawfully copied thousands of CNN stories, videos, and images to power its products.
The complaint alleges that Perplexity distributes "identical or substantially similar" competing content without authorization. CNN is seeking an unspecified amount of monetary damages and a court order blocking Perplexity from violating its intellectual property rights.
Reported impact
CNN stated that "By exploiting CNN's reporting in this manner, Perplexity violates the protections afforded by copyright law and undermines the economic incentives that make original newsgathering possible."
Index analysis
Perplexity spokesperson Jesse Dwyer responded to the lawsuit stating, "You can't copyright facts."
The lawsuit is one of dozens of high-stakes US cases brought by copyright owners including news outlets, authors and publishers against tech companies over alleged misuse of their work to train large language models. Perplexity is also facing lawsuits from the New York Times, Reddit, and Dow Jones, among others.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.