Meta’s copyright troubles just got spicier. Strike 3 Holdings — a studio that calls its porn “high quality,” “feminist,” and “ethical” — says Zuckerberg’s empire has been torrenting its films since 2018 to feed the company’s AI experiments.
According to the newly unsealed lawsuit, Meta wanted what Hollywood rarely delivers: long, uninterrupted shots of actual bodies in motion. Or, as Strike 3 attorney Christian Waugh put it, “They have an interest in getting our content because it can give them a competitive advantage for the quality, fluidity, and humanity of the AI.”
From Porn to Prime Time
The lawsuit alleges Meta BitTorrented 2,396 Strike 3 titles—no age gates, no limits. It also lists other downloads ranging from Yellowstone and South Park to porn with “teen” labels, plus gun manuals and political screeds. Using porn to teach robots? Emory law professor Matthew Sag told WIRED it’s “a public relations disaster waiting to happen.”
Meta Shrugs
Meta spokesperson Christopher Sgro told WIRED: “We’re reviewing the complaint, but we don’t believe Strike’s claims are accurate.” Meanwhile, Zuckerberg is busy promising “personal superintelligence” through V-JEPA 2 and those $799 Ray-Ban Meta Glasses. Yes, the same glasses that bombed their big demo. (Truly, don’t get us started on these creepy glasses.)
The Big Ask
Strike 3’s infringement trackers tied the alleged piracy to 47 Meta IP addresses, and the studio wants $350 million. Waugh told WIRED, “The case being presented against Meta is perhaps the case of the century…only a thin slice of the pie.”
With courts still wobbling on AI fair use, this battle could be a milestone—or just another messy headline about Big Tech raiding the internet for training fodder. As Waugh put it: “It doesn’t matter if it’s a four-sentence poem or adult entertainment. There is no appetite…for what AI companies appear to be doing.”