Reddit has filed legal action against four companies for training AI models using Reddit’s content without permission. This new Reddit AI lawsuit has raised allegations of data theft. Among the defendants is the popular AI search engine Perplexity.
Why was the Reddit AI lawsuit filed?
According to the lawsuit, these companies bypassed Reddit’s technical hurdles and terms of service, extracting data from the platform without permission. Reddit characterized this as copyright infringement and “unauthorized, unpaid, and unlawful access.” It also alleges that the companies deliberately circumvented restrictions such as robots.txt files and access limits.

Reddit explicitly describes these actions as “data theft” and “unjust enrichment.” This development comes at a time when the platform has entered into agreements with giants like Google to license its data. Reddit emphasizes that, unlike the companies that license their data, these four companies receive no payment and profit unfairly from the platform’s labor.
While Perplexity is the most well-known company named in the lawsuit, Reddit is targeting three other AI companies. As of press time, the names of these other three companies have not yet been released to the public. However, Reddit has made it clear that it will take a strong stance against such unauthorized use outside of its licensing agreements.
So, what are your thoughts on this lawsuit Reddit filed against the AI companies? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!