Court prohibits Meta from using journalistic content without authorization

The São Paulo Court granted an injunction favorable to the National Association of Newspapers (ANJ), the Brazilian Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters (ABERT) and the National Association of Magazine Editors (ANER) against Meta.

The company, which owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads, began to condition the use that media outlets make of their networks on authorization of unrestricted access to all content produced by them for training and feeding their artificial intelligence.

The conditions would allow the company to use automated programs to access, copy, store and analyze reports, photographs, videos and those published on the media's websites.

The rule was established by Meta in a change made by the company to its commercial terms, scheduled to come into force on November 20th.

According to the decision, Meta is obliged to keep the accounts, pages and vehicle tools in full working order, without blocks, restrictions or punishments for refusing the conditions imposed by the company.

The Court set a daily fine of R$1 million in case of non-compliance, limited to R$100 million.

"I justify the increased value of the daily fine considering that the defendant has been especially reticent in complying with decisions made in other cases, choosing when to comply and when not to comply", stated judge Guilherme Madeira Dezem, from the 44th Civil Court of São Paulo, in the decision.

In a joint statement, ANJ, ABERT and ANER said they went to court "to protect the copyright of associated vehicles and prevent the use of their content without authorization."

The entities also warned of the economic imbalance between digital platforms and companies responsible for producing journalistic information.

"The decision represents an initial victory for the three associations in defending intellectual property and the sustainability of professional journalism, essential to guarantee society's access to quality information", stated the associations in the note.