Brazilian Court Bans Meta from Using Media Content for AI Training, Imposes Daily Fine
A São Paulo court ruled that Meta cannot use content from three major Brazilian press associations for AI training, setting a high daily penalty.
A court in São Paulo, Brazil, has issued an injunction prohibiting US tech giant Meta from using content belonging to member companies of three Brazilian press associations to train its artificial intelligence (AI) models. The ruling directly targets Meta's previous attempt to force media organizations to license their content for free in exchange for continued platform access through modified terms of service.
According to heise online, Judge Guilherme Madeira Dezem of the 44th Civil Court in São Paulo granted the interim relief requested by the National Newspaper Association (ANJ), the Brazilian Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters (Abert), and the National Association of Magazine Publishers (Aner). These associations alleged that Meta's new terms of service for business users made the "free and unrestricted provision of copyright-protected material" a condition for continuing to use its platforms. The judge stated in the ruling that this requirement constituted an obvious abuse of rights.
In addition to suspending the execution of the relevant clauses, the court also banned Meta from sanctioning or penalizing media companies that refuse to accept these new terms. If Meta violates the injunction, it will face a fine of 1 million reais per day (approximately 162,000 euros). This decision is seen as an initial victory for the Brazilian media industry in protecting intellectual property and maintaining the sustainability of professional journalism.