Last year, adult film producers Strike 3 Holdings and Counterlife Media sued Meta, accusing the tech giant of downloading thousands of their films via BitTorrent to train AI models.
Meta denies the allegations. Early on, the company already suggested that employees or visitors may have downloaded the videos for personal use.
That position is now being put to the test in discovery. A joint status report, filed by both parties, shows that Meta’s own search turned up employees who appear to have “interacted” with the producers’ videos.
Employees ‘Interacted’ With Strike 3 Films
The status report was originally filed on October 21 with large parts blacked out. A week later, Meta narrowed the redactions, refiling a version that clearly shows what was previously hidden.
According to Strike 3, Meta first shared the names of five employees who “interacted” with torrented versions of its films back in July. Meta says that this was a draft, sent by mistake, and clawed it back.
Meta later shared the names again, but only for Strike 3’s lawyers to see. Strike 3 is not happy with this restriction, and in the status report it writes that the “Attorney’s Eyes Only” label limits its ability to investigate these individuals.
There may be more, too. Meta has told Strike 3 about additional employees who ‘interacted’ with the films and related torrent files, but it hasn’t named them yet. Why they are not named is not mentioned.
Meta, meanwhile, stresses that it has no evidence that the videos were torrented by these individuals or anyone else. According to the company, they “appear to have interacted with (e.g., viewed or opened)” Strike 3’s videos.
“To date, Meta has not found any evidence supporting Plaintiffs’ claims that the alleged torrent downloads were performed with Meta’s knowledge and authorization or for its benefit,” the tech company writes, adding that none of the activity listed in its interrogatory response was authorized or related to its AI training.
Third-Party IP Addresses
Meta also has an explanation for the IP addresses Strike 3 flagged. Most of the alleged downloads came from third-party IP addresses it has no control over, the company argues.
Meta’s own corporate IP addresses, meanwhile, mostly belong to an internet service it acquired years ago. This unnamed service was offered to the public and phased out in 2019.
While not mentioned in the legal paperwork, the Onavo VPN would perfectly fit this picture. This controversial service was owned by Meta until it was shut down in early 2019.
Meta: Alleged Pirate Had Already Left
The filing also brings some news on a separate case. In late August, Strike 3 identified an anonymous AT&T subscriber as a Reality Labs executive and asked the court to relate his “John Doe” case to the Meta lawsuit. Judge Eumi K. Lee denied that request without prejudice, as Strike 3 first needed permission to disclose his identity.
On October 15, Magistrate Judge Virginia K. DeMarchi granted that permission. After learning the name, Meta then informed Strike 3 that it will oppose a renewed motion, as this person had already left Meta at the time of the alleged torrenting activity.
Strike 3 disagrees, stating that it has “traced” John Doe’s copyright infringement to several years before he left the company. The adult producer still wants to relate these cases, but as far as we can see, it has yet to file a new motion.
For now, the employees’ names remain under the “Attorney’s Eyes Only” designation and kept away from the public. Whether their activity was as unrelated to Meta’s work as the company says has yet to be seen.
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A copy of the joint case management statement, with Meta’s narrowed redactions, is available here (pdf).
