Reddit sues Anthropic over alleged data misuse in AI training

Reddit

Reddit has filed a lawsuit against artificial intelligence startup Anthropic, accusing it of unlawfully scraping user-generated content to train its large language models. According to a report by CNBC, the complaint, lodged in a San Francisco court on Wednesday, alleges breach of contract and “unlawful and unfair business acts.”

According to Reddit, Anthropic used data from its platform without consent, violating the site’s user agreement and ignoring established licensing protocols. The social media company said the startup’s actions caused “substantial harm” by commercially exploiting content that was never intended for such use.

The lawsuit characterises Anthropic — a company co-founded by ex-OpenAI employees and recently valued at $61.5 billion — as a “late-blooming” AI firm positioning itself as ethically conscious, while allegedly disregarding Reddit’s rules and community norms. “Anthropic does not care about Reddit’s rules or users,” the filing reads. “It believes it is entitled to take whatever content it wants and use that content however it desires, with impunity.”

Anthropic, in response, said it “disagrees with Reddit’s claims and will defend itself vigorously.”

Reddit’s position gains additional context from its recent licensing deals with OpenAI and Google — both of which the company says are compliant with its content usage terms. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, notably, is a former Reddit board member and now owns a stake worth over $1 billion.

Reddit, which went public in 2024 and now holds a market cap of $22 billion, is seeking damages and a jury trial to enforce its content usage terms.