Meta probe finds staff accessed Strike 3 porn videos

The case turns on what Meta knew and when. Meta has argued that proving direct copyright infringement requires showing the videos were actually used to train AI, and it notes that while the alleged infringement dates to 2018, its multimodal video-generation research began in 2022. A federal district judge rejected Meta's motion to dismiss, reasoning that Meta's act of copying videos via BitTorrent could itself constitute direct infringement.

The newly unredacted filing adds a personnel dimension. Meta first named five employees in July in connection with illegal downloads of Strike 3 works, then withdrew that disclosure as a mistakenly sent draft before reissuing it with names visible only to Strike 3's lawyers. Strike 3 has complained that this restriction limits its ability to investigate. Meta, for its part, says it has told Strike 3 that other employees were involved but has not named them, and it stresses that involvement could mean simply viewing or opening a video rather than illegal downloading.

Separately, the dispute over the former Reality Labs executive remains unresolved. Meta argues the person had already left the company when the alleged torrent activity occurred, while Strike 3 says the infringement began years before departure. The executive's name is still restricted to attorneys, and no new related claims had been confirmed at the time of writing.