Yomiuri Shimbun sues Perplexity AI for unauthorized use of news content
Japan's largest newspaper, Yomiuri Shimbun, sued US-based AI company Perplexity in August 2025, alleging unauthorized use of approximately 120,000 of its news articles and seeking 2.2 billion yen in damages. The lawsuit claims Perplexity's search summaries reduced traffic to Yomiuri's website and advertising revenue.
What happened
Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan's largest newspaper by circulation, sued US-based AI company Perplexity for unauthorized use of its news content in a search engine.
The lawsuit was filed in Tokyo on 7 August 2025, seeking 2.2 billion yen in damages for approximately 120,000 Yomiuri articles allegedly used without permission from February to June 2025.
Reported impact
Yomiuri Shimbun alleged that Perplexity's search summaries reduced traffic to the newspaper's website by allowing users to read the content without clicking through to the news site, resulting in loss of advertising revenue.
Yomiuri Shimbun stated that Perplexity was "riding for free on the results of activities by news organizations that have invested tremendous effort and expense." The newspaper argued that unauthorized use affects accurate journalism and undermines the foundations of democracy.
Index analysis
This is the first lawsuit by a major Japanese news organization against an AI company for unauthorized content use, though similar litigation has been filed globally by media organizations including the Wall Street Journal and New York Post.
Governance controls
Perplexity had previously criticized media companies' legal actions as "myopic, unnecessary, and self-defeating," and stated that news organizations should not own publicly reported facts and that users should not be charged for access to such information.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.