Reddit has filed a lawsuit against AI startup Perplexity, accusing it of illegally scraping Reddit’s data to train its AI-powered search engine. The case was filed in a New York federal court and also names Oxylabs, AWMProxy, and SerpApi for helping Perplexity get the data without permission.
Reddit says these companies bypassed its data protection systems to steal information that Perplexity “desperately needs” to run its answer engine. The company also said that even after sending a cease-and-desist notice last year, Perplexity increased the use of Reddit content almost forty times.
Perplexity has denied all allegations and said it uses data responsibly. The company claims it will defend itself in court and continues to provide accurate AI-generated answers.
Reddit’s chief legal officer Ben Lee said AI companies are now in an “arms race for quality human content, “which has created a “data laundering” economy. Basically, companies are using human-created content to train their AI systems without permission or proper credit.
Reddit has already licensed its data to companies like Google and OpenAI for AI training. But it claims that Perplexity never took a license and still used its content.
This issue goes beyond Reddit. Small publishers and independent creators are also facing the same problem. Their articles, blogs, and reviews are being scraped by AI systems without consent. These small publishers do not have the money or power to take legal action, so they are often ignored. It is good to see Reddit taking a stand against this growing misuse. But small publishers should also come together to raise their voice. If they unite, they can demand fair treatment and ensure that AI companies respect content ownership.
This lawsuit is not just about Reddit. It is about the future of online content and how AI companies use it.
