Brazilian court bars Meta from using press content to train its AI

A provisional order against training AI on press content

A Brazilian judge, Guilherme Madeira Dezem, has provisionally barred Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, from collecting content from media outlets tied to three press associations to train artificial intelligence models. According to the decision consulted by AFP, the measure is a precautionary injunction and is not final. The case was brought by national associations representing newspapers, magazines, and radio and television broadcasters, which objected to Meta requiring them to hand over content for free if they wanted to keep using its platforms. AFP dates the ruling to Tuesday, while the Romanian outlet Mediafax gave the day as Wednesday and placed the hearing at the civil court in São Paulo.

The terms behind the case

Meta's new business terms were due to take effect on 20 November. Ahead of that date, the judge ruled without hearing from Meta, reasoning that the damage would be irreversible once an AI system had been trained on press material. The injunction suspends the part of those terms that demanded free access to content and bars Meta from punishing outlets that refuse it.

According to Mediafax, the order stops Meta from using software or credentials to access, index, store, analyse or track the affected sites, and from using copyrighted material to supply, develop, research, maintain, train or adjust its AI models, including Meta AI, until a final judgment. It also requires that the accounts, pages and tools used by the affiliated publications stay operational. Meta may not restrict access, reduce distribution or sanction outlets that decline the new terms. Non-compliance carries a fine of one million reais a day, about 162,000 euros. In his reasoning, the judge described demanding that media make their creative output freely and universally available as the price of staying on the channels where the public gets its news as a manifest abuse of rights.

Reaction and the election backdrop

The associations say the ruling is the first decision worldwide in favour of a coalition of media against such terms. Marcelo Rech, executive president of the National Association of Newspapers (ANJ), welcomed the order in a statement:

“It is a very positive signal that shows there are limits to the abuse of economic power.”

Meta has not responded to AFP's requests for comment.

The decision follows heavy criticism of Meta during Brazil's presidential campaign. Before the runoff, the Superior Electoral Court ordered the company to apply the same rules to both candidates after Lula's team accused Meta of interfering in favour of his rival. Meta denied taking sides and pointed to "technical problems" that it said hurt the left-wing campaign on its platforms. UN experts had earlier urged Meta to protect political expression during the race. After his re-election, Lula promised to regulate social networks in the country.

What happens next

The order is provisional, and the case moves toward a final ruling for which the reporting gives no date. Meta's new terms were scheduled to apply from 20 November, and the fine applies each day the company breaches the order until a final decision is issued.