Reddit, Inc. filed a lawsuit earlier this month against Anthropic, PBC, accusing the artificial intelligence company of unauthorized use of Reddit’s content to train its AI models. The complaint, filed in the Superior Court of California, San Francisco County, outlines several causes of action, including breach of contract, unjust enrichment, trespass to chattels, tortious interference with contract, and unfair competition under California Business and Professions Code Section 17200.
Reddit alleges that Anthropic, despite its public claims of ethical AI development, has been scraping Reddit’s platform to train its AI models, including its chatbot, Claude, without authorization. This conduct, Reddit claims, violates its User Agreement, which prohibits the commercial exploitation of its content without a license. Reddit asserts that Anthropic’s actions have not only breached contractual obligations but have also resulted in significant financial gain for Anthropic, while Reddit has been deprived of potential licensing revenue.
The lawsuit details how Anthropic allegedly continued to scrape Reddit content even after being notified of the violation. Reddit claims that Anthropic’s bots accessed its servers over 100,000 times, despite public statements to the contrary.
Reddit is seeking several remedies, including an injunction to prevent Anthropic from using Reddit data, restitution for unjust enrichment, and punitive damages. The company also demands that Anthropic remove any Reddit content from its servers and cease using any technology derived from such content.
Reddit is represented by Quinn, Emmanuel, Urquhart & Sullivan.
