● Covered by 3 sources · 3 reportsMedium impact3 negative
New York Times and Other Publishers Sue Brave Browser Over AI Scraping and Paywall Bypass
Key points
- The New York Times and other publishers sued Brave Software.
- Lawsuits allege Brave scrapes copyrighted content for AI training.
- Brave reportedly provides content to AI companies including Anthropic and Mistral.
- Brave's browser features are accused of bypassing paywalls and blocking ads.
- The lawsuits were filed in federal court in Manhattan.
- Brave is accused of being a supplier, dealer, and distributor of stolen copyrighted content.
- Brave allegedly provides content to AI companies xAI and Cohere.
- Brave is accused of making over $100 million by reselling publishers' work.
- AI companies pay Brave to provide them with real-time online content from the Brave search index.
- Brave Search API is used by You.com.
Lawsuits Filed Against Brave Software
The New York Times, along with a group of other publications including the New York Daily News, Chicago Tribune, and Orlando Sentinel, has initiated legal action against Brave Software, the company behind the Brave web browser. These lawsuits were filed in federal court in Manhattan.
The core allegations center on Brave's alleged unlawful scraping of copyrighted content to train artificial intelligence models and its browser's functionality that allows users to bypass publisher paywalls.
Allegations of Content Scraping for AI
According to the complaints, Brave Software has monetized an index of scraped websites by providing paid access to "real-time online content from the Brave Index" to AI companies. This content is then used by these AI companies to train their models or respond to user queries.
Brave has allegedly supplied "stolen copyrighted content" to multiple AI companies, specifically naming Anthropic, Perplexity, Mistral, xAI, and Cohere. The New York Times lawsuit describes Brave as a "supplier, dealer, and distributor of stolen copyrighted content" for these AI firms, likening its actions to a "burglar" and an "AI 'fence' that sells stolen content to third parties."
Paywall Bypass and Ad Blocking Features
The lawsuits also target Brave's browser features, specifically its "Paywall blocker," which reportedly promotes access to "hundreds of top publishers." Publishers claim Brave has never sought their permission to access this content.
Additionally, Brave's practice of blocking publishers' ads while selling its own is cited in the complaints. The lawsuits seek an injunction and damages against Brave Software.
Background of Brave and Similar Lawsuits
Brave, founded in 2015, is an 11-year-old privacy-focused browser company that has raised approximately $250 million to date. The New York Times has previously filed similar lawsuits against other AI entities, including OpenAI and Perplexity, over comparable claims of content misuse.
Updates
- Brave is accused of being a supplier, dealer, and distributor of stolen copyrighted content.
- Brave allegedly provides content to AI companies xAI and Cohere.
- Brave is accused of making over $100 million by reselling publishers' work.
- AI companies pay Brave to provide them with real-time online content from the Brave search index.
- Brave Search API is used by You.com.
✨ This summary was generated by AI from the outlets' reporting listed below. It is not independently verified and may contain errors — check the original sources. How BrevFeed works →
The daily brief
One email each morning: the day's tech stories, clustered across outlets and summarized. No account needed.
One email a day. Unsubscribe in one click, any time.
Today's brief
Spend a few minutes, get the whole day. Every topic's top stories in one hands-free rundown — listen, watch, or read the transcript.
▶ Play today's brief
New every morning, and the back catalogue is archived by date.
How outlets covered it
The New York Times and other publishers have sued Brave Software, alleging the browser illegally bypasses paywalls and sells copyrighted news content to AI companies. The lawsuit claims Brave profits over $100 million by providing content to its users and AI firms like Anthropic and Perplexity without publisher consent, impacting publishers' revenue and content control.
The New York Times has sued Brave, alleging the browser company scraped copyrighted content and unlawfully distributed it to AI companies like Anthropic and Perplexity. The lawsuit also targets Brave's paywall-bypassing feature and its ad-blocking practices, claiming Brave acts as a 'supplier, dealer, and distributor of stolen copyrighted content'.
The New York Times and other publishers are suing Brave Software, alleging the Brave browser unlawfully scrapes copyrighted content to train AI models and allows users to bypass paywalls. The lawsuit claims Brave monetizes its index of scraped websites by selling access to AI companies like Anthropic and Mistral, without publisher permission or compensation.