TLDR;
- Reddit sues AI startup Anthropic for allegedly scraping user data without permission
- Reddit claims Anthropic violated its user agreement and ignored clear warning.
- The platform has licensing deals with OpenAI and Google but accuses Anthropic of refusing to cooperate
- Reddit seeks financial restitution and a court order to block future data use by Anthropic
Reddit has filed a complaint against artificial intelligence company Anthropic , accusing it of unlawfully using Reddit’s vast user-generated content to train AI models.
The case, submitted in a Northern California court on Wednesday, alleges that Anthropic harvested Reddit data without authorization and in violation of the platform’s explicit rules and agreements.
Reddit Claims Against Anthropic
According to the filing, Reddit says it directly notified Anthropic that it was not permitted to scrape or use the site’s content. However, the company alleges that Anthropic “refused to engage” and continued extracting data from the platform. In a striking accusation, Reddit asserts that Anthropic ignored its robots.txt files, which are designed to prevent automated systems from crawling a site. The complaint claims Anthropic’s bots accessed Reddit content more than 100,000 times even after stating publicly that it had blocked such activity.
The company’s legal filing opens with a sharp rebuke, calling Anthropic a “late-blooming” startup that claims to be a responsible player in the AI space but in reality “does not care about Reddit’s rules or users.” The complaint continues: “It believes it is entitled to take whatever content it wants and use that content however it desires, with impunity.”
Anthropic Allegedly Refused Licensing Terms
Reddit’s complaint stands in contrast to its existing relationships with other AI firms. In May, the company struck licensing agreements with OpenAI and Google, both of which include stipulations that protect user privacy and uphold Reddit’s terms of service. These deals allow AI models from those companies to train on Reddit content under formal conditions.
“Other giants in the AI space understand and respect Reddit’s rules,” the company stated in the complaint, noting that OpenAI and Google only access content “after agreeing to Reddit’s licensing terms.”
Reddit emphasizes that its agreements are designed not just to allow access, but to safeguard its communities from being exploited.
Anthropic, on the other hand, is portrayed as an outlier in Reddit’s legal narrative. The platform alleges that unlike its peers, Anthropic made no effort to enter negotiations or respect Reddit’s position. Instead, Reddit argues that the startup has profited substantially from this content, enriching its AI systems at the expense of the Reddit community.
Reddit Seeks Damages, Restitution
Ben Lee, Reddit’s Chief Legal Officer, issued a blunt statement on the matter noting;
“We will not tolerate profit-seeking entities like Anthropic commercially exploiting Reddit content for billions of dollars without any return for redditors or respect for their privacy.”
Reddit is seeking compensatory damages, restitution for profits Anthropic allegedly gained from Reddit content, and a court injunction to stop Anthropic from continuing to use the material. The company is also asking for a jury trial to decide the outcome.
In response, Anthropic’s spokesperson Danielle Ghighlieri said in an emailed statement, “We disagree with Reddit’s claims and will defend ourselves vigorously.”
