Judge orders Meta to identify executives behind book-torrenting decisions
The ruling could expose who approved access to shadow libraries in cases brought by authors and Entrepreneur Media.
A federal magistrate has pushed Meta to identify the executives behind decisions to torrent books for AI training, rather than leaving the matter at the level of rank-and-file staff. The order matters because it could surface who approved access to shadow libraries such as Anna’s Archive and LibGen in lawsuits brought by authors, including Richard Kadrey and Sarah Silverman, and by Entrepreneur Media. Meta had argued that its early data-gathering for model training was handled informally and that no one with authority really made the call. The judge’s ruling cuts against that framing and may force the company to map the approval chain behind the alleged piracy.
Why it matters
The order shifts attention from staff who carried out the downloads to the people who may have signed off on them. That matters because the lawsuits now have a clearer path to test Meta’s claim that the work was informal and lacked a real decision-maker, and to see whether supervisors or executives were involved.
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Sources
- Ars Technica