Reddit sues Perplexity AI and data scrapers for unauthorized data scraping
Reddit filed a lawsuit alleging that Perplexity and three data-scraping companies unlawfully scraped Reddit's content via Google search results to train AI models without authorization or license. The case claims the scrapers circumvented Reddit's protections and sold the data to AI companies including OpenAI and Meta.
What happened
On October 22, 2025, Reddit filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Perplexity, SerpApi, Oxylabs, and AWMProxy, alleging they unlawfully scraped Reddit's data to train Perplexity's AI-powered 'answer engine.'
According to Reddit's complaint, the data-scraping companies circumvented Reddit's data protection measures to steal content via Google search results, with SerpApi, Oxylabs, and AWMProxy selling the scraped data to AI companies including OpenAI and Meta.
Reported impact
Reddit claims that its platform is the most frequently cited source for AI-generated responses to user queries and that it lacked a license from Perplexity to use its content.
Governance controls
Reddit's chief legal officer Ben Lee stated: 'AI companies are locked in an arms race for quality human content -- and that pressure has fueled an industrial-scale data laundering economy. Scrapers bypass technological protections to steal data, then sell it to clients hungry for training material.'
Reddit is seeking a permanent injunction against the companies, financial damages, and prohibition on the use or sale of any previously scraped Reddit data.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.