Strike 3 Holdings is suing Meta in federal court in California. The company alleges Meta pirated and shared its adult videos to train AI models. Exhibits tied to the complaint were unsealed last week.
Strike 3 says Meta used BitTorrent to download and seed 2,396 of its copyright-protected videos since 2018. The complaint claims Meta sought unique visual angles, body detail, and long scenes to support what Mark Zuckerberg calls AI “superintelligence.”
According to WIRED, attorney Christian Waugh says Meta wanted this content for “quality, fluidity, and humanity” in AI. The lawsuit also alleges the seeding made the videos accessible to minors, since BitTorrent has no age checks.
The claims and Meta’s response
The filing cites activity from 47 Meta-affiliated IP addresses. Strike 3 says it used its own detection systems to identify the alleged infringement. It seeks $350 million in statutory penalties.
Christopher Sgro, a Meta spokesperson, told WIRED the company is reviewing the complaint. He said Meta does not believe Strike 3’s claims are accurate.
What else the exhibits list
The exhibits list many non-porn sources, including episodes of Yellowstone, Modern Family, The Bachelor, South Park, and Downton Abbey. They also list titles of non–Strike 3 porn videos that may include very young actors, such as ExploitedTeens, Anal Teens, Asian Teen Masturbation, CasualTeenSex, and EuroTeenErotica.
The list includes materials about weapons, such as 3D Gun Print and Gun Digest Shooter’s Guide to the AR-15. It also features Antifa’s Radical Plan and Intellectual Property Rights in Cyberspace.
Context around AI training data
Meta’s V-JEPA 2 “world model,” released in June, was trained on 1 million hours of “internet video,” according to Meta researchers. Strike 3 notes that term is not defined in the paper. Zuckerberg has said Meta plans to put “the power of superintelligence into people’s hands.”
Matthew Sag, a law professor at Emory University, says using adult content for training is “a public relations disaster waiting to happen.” He warns a simple query could return porn.
WIRED reports that executives at Meta reportedly made an active choice to use pirated material, and that Zuckerberg approved it. Nearly every major AI company faces similar copyright suits.
In June, Judge Vince Chhabria ruled for Meta in Kadrey v. Meta. He said the plaintiffs made the wrong arguments, not that Meta’s training was lawful. Sag says Strike 3 could argue that using pirate sites undermines the market for access. Waugh says rights holders never gave permission.
