Why authors are protesting against Meta in London today
What's the story
A group of authors and publishing industry professionals are planning to stage a protest outside Meta's London office today.
The demonstration is in response to the company's alleged use of copyrighted books for training its artificial intelligence (AI) models.
Novelists Kate Mosse, Tracy Chevalier, and poet Daljit Nagra are among those expected to attend the protest at the King's Cross office.
Protest details
Authors to deliver letter of complaint to Meta
The protest will start at Granary Square at 1:30pm BST (6:00pm IST) where a letter from the Society of Authors (SoA) will be handed to Meta at 1:45pm BST (6:15pm IST).
It will also be sent to Meta's US headquarters.
The protest comes after allegations earlier this year that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg approved the use of the "shadow library," LibGen, which has over 7.5 million books, to train AI models.
Strong condemnation
SoA chair condemns Meta's actions
SoA Chairperson Vanessa Fox O'Loughlin has denounced Meta's move as "illegal, shocking, and utterly devastating for writers."
She added, "A book can take a year or longer to write. Meta has stolen books so that their AI can reproduce creative content, potentially putting these same authors out of business."
In response to the allegations, a Meta spokesperson said they respect third-party intellectual property rights.
Author support
Prominent authors support SoA's letter to culture secretary
A group of leading authors including Richard Osman, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Val McDermid recently signed an SoA letter to Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy.
It calls for Meta executives to be summoned to Parliament.
This statement published on Change.org as a petition has since gathered 7,000 signatures.
Outrage
Authors express outrage over use of their works
Novelist AJ West, leading today's protest, said he was horrified to find his novels listed on the LibGen database.
"To have my beautiful books ripped off like this without my permission and without a penny of compensation then fed to the AI monster feels like I've been mugged," he added.
This is a sentiment echoed by several other authors whose works are being used without consent.
Support for authors
SoA chief executive supports authors' concerns
SoA Chief Executive Anna Ganley also spoke in support of the protesters.
"The fact that these online libraries of pirated books continue to exist is bad enough, but when global companies use them to unlawfully access and exploit authors' copyright-protected works, it is a double blow for authors," she said, echoing the concerns raised by the protesting authors.