SAO PAULO, Nov 4 — A Sao Paulo state court ordered US tech giant Meta on Tuesday to stop collecting content to train its AI models from Brazilian media outlets in three national press associations.

The preliminary injunction, seen by AFP, comes after the associations filed a civil suit alleging that Meta – owner of Facebook, Instagram, Threads and Whatsapp – had demanded free access to content in exchange for continued use of its platforms.

The judge set a daily fine of one million reais (about US$180,000, or RM733,000) if Meta fails to comply.

Meta had placed the requirement in its new terms of service for businesses set to take effect on November 20.

Given the short timeline, Judge Guilherme Madeira Dezem issued his ruling without waiting for a response from the company.

He agreed that the damage to the media outlets would be “irreversible” once the AI were trained using their content.

“Imposing on media outlets the free and universal surrender of their copyrighted works as a toll for remaining connected to the channels through which the contemporary public consumes news constitutes a manifest abuse of rights,” he wrote in the ruling.

The judge suspended that section of the new terms of service and prohibited Meta from penalising media outlets that rejected them.

Meta will have five days after notification of the ruling to present its defence.

The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AFP.

“The preliminary injunction is a very positive sign that there are limits to the abuse of economic power,” said Marcelo Rech, executive president of the National Association of Newspapers (ANJ), one of the plaintiffs, in a statement.

According to the associations, the ruling marks the first time in any country in favour of a coalition of media organisations opposing Meta’s new terms of service. — AFP