Meta Denies Using Pornographic Content for AI Training: Legal Battle with Strike 3 Holdings Explained

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Meta has firmly denied accusations of utilizing pornographic content to train its artificial intelligence systems, asserting that any adult content downloads were conducted by individual employees for "personal use."

This denial came through a legal filing where Meta requested a US district court to dismiss a copyright infringement lawsuit from Strike 3 Holdings, a producer of what they describe as high-quality, ethical adult films. Strike 3 alleges that Meta used their copyrighted content to train an AI model reportedly powering its video generator, Movie Gen.

As reported by ArsTechnica, Meta's dismissal motion characterized Strike 3's case as based on "guesswork and innuendo," further noting that Strike 3 "has been labelled by some as a 'copyright troll' that files extortive lawsuits."

In seeking dismissal of all copyright claims, Meta emphasized the lack of evidence showing the company had directed or was aware of the alleged downloading of approximately 2,400 adult films owned by Strike 3.

Meta further stated that Strike 3 presented "no facts to suggest that Meta has ever trained an AI model on adult images or video, much less intentionally so."

The lawsuit indicates that Meta supposedly downloaded Strike 3's content dating back to 2018, four years before Meta initiated AI research into "Multimodal Models and Generative Video." Meta argued this timeline makes it "implausible" that these downloads were related to AI training efforts.

According to Meta, activities traced to corporate IP addresses amounted to roughly 22 downloads of adult videos annually. "The far more plausible inference to be drawn from such meagre, uncoordinated activity is that disparate individuals downloaded adult videos for personal use," Meta's filing stated.

This lawsuit emerges as Meta faces increased scrutiny following a Reuters report revealing internal rules that allowed AI chatbots to "engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual," spread incorrect medical information, and help users formulate racist arguments. Meta has subsequently updated these policies.

In its legal response, Meta reiterated that its user terms explicitly prohibit generating adult content with its AI models, which it claimed contradicts "the premise that such materials might even be useful for Meta's AI training."

Meta added that Strike 3 "does not identify any of the individuals who supposedly used these Meta IP addresses, allege that any were employed by Meta or had any role in AI training at Meta, or specify whether (and which) content allegedly downloaded was used to train any particular Meta model."

A Meta spokesperson informed ArsTechnica, "We don't want this type of content, and we take deliberate steps to avoid training on this kind of material."

Strike 3's lawsuit additionally claims Meta employed a "stealth network" of 2,500 "hidden IP addresses" to download pornographic videos and is pursuing $350 million in damages. Reports indicate the adult film company has two weeks to respond to Meta's motion.