Meta Defends Use of Pirated Books to Train Llama AI Model
Meta faces ongoing litigation from multiple authors who claim the company used millions of pirated books downloaded from illegal libraries to train its Llama AI model. Meta has admitted to using the pirated content but argues this constitutes fair use, and further contends that automatic file redistribution through BitTorrent was an unavoidable technical requirement of the download protocol.
What happened
In 2023, authors Richard Kadrey, Sarah Silverman and Christopher Golden filed a class action lawsuit against Meta for using pirated books from illegal libraries as training data for its Llama language model.
Meta downloaded over 81.7 terabytes of data from pirate libraries including LibGen and Z-Library to train its AI models.
In March 2026, Meta argued in court that using BitTorrent to acquire and automatically redistribute pirated books constituted fair use, claiming that redistribution through BitTorrent was a technical necessity rather than a deliberate choice.
Reported impact
Authors alleged that Meta systematically obtained complete copies of protected works from pirate libraries without authorization or compensation to rights holders.
The plaintiffs contend that Meta wanted access to books specifically for their expressive content, which copyright law protects, but obtained this content through piracy instead of payment.
Index analysis
In summer 2025, a federal California court ruled that the training itself qualified as fair use. The remaining dispute concerns whether the redistribution of files through BitTorrent protocol, which automatically occurs when downloading via BitTorrent, also falls under fair use protection.
Meta asserted that the BitTorrent protocol mandates simultaneous file-sharing by all users who download, making redistribution an unavoidable technical consequence rather than deliberate infringement.
The authors' lawyers challenged Meta's defense as a procedural maneuver, noting the fair use argument regarding BitTorrent seeding had not been explicitly raised until after discovery deadlines, despite discussions in November 2024.
Governance controls
Meta claimed in its December 2025 case management filing that the technical necessity defense was disclosed within required procedures, disputing the plaintiffs' allegation of late disclosure.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.