CNN sues Perplexity for generating verbatim copies of its articles without permission

CNN filed a lawsuit in a New York court on Thursday alleging that Perplexity's AI tools generate 'verbatim' copies of its work and provide users with information locked behind CNN's subscription paywall. CNN accuses Perplexity of ignoring its efforts to block the startup's crawlers from scraping its content.

CNN demonstrated one instance where Perplexity's AI search tool produced 'substantial' verbatim portions of a CNN article simply when prompted with the article's title. CNN had negotiated a deal to offer its content through Perplexity's Comet Plus subscription in October 2025, but scrapped the agreement in November due to inability to agree on limits for Perplexity's use of CNN content.

CNN joins The New York Times, Encyclopedia Britannica, Merriam-Webster, News Corp, Amazon, and Reddit in suing Perplexity for copyright infringement. CNN is seeking damages and a permanent block on Perplexity's allegedly unlawful conduct; Perplexity spokesperson Jesse Dwyer responded by saying 'You can't copyright facts.'