American rapper Eminem (Marshall Mathers) has sued Meta Platforms Inc. and Mark Zuckerberg, claiming that his music has been used without permission on Meta’s AI and metaverse platforms.
The tech giant is accused of stealing and redistributing Eminem’s copyrighted content without authorization or payment in the lawsuit, which was filed in a California federal court.
Eminem’s legal team alleges in the lawsuit filed in a Michigan court that several songs, including well-known songs like “Lose Yourself” and “Without Me,” were utilized in virtual worlds and AI-generated material across all of Meta’s platforms, including Horizon Worlds and its AI-powered music capabilities.
The lawsuit claims that Eight Mile Style is the owner or controller of 243 tracks in Meta’s music collection. Millions of videos with billions of views on Meta’s platforms are said to have featured these tracks.
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The lawsuit claims that, in spite of earlier unsuccessful attempts to reach a licensing deal through the digital music rights organization Audiam, the music was unlawfully duplicated and synced to visual footage.
“Despite not being licensed, the recordings of the Eight Mile compositions have been reproduced and synchronized with visual content on Meta’s platforms,” the complaint states. It further alleges that Meta executives “actively encouraged rampant infringement” to boost user engagement and advertising revenue—advertising that reportedly made up 97.8% of Meta’s total revenue in 2023.
Despite being informed of the license problems, Meta is still hosting karaoke, instrumental, and even some original versions of Eminem’s songs, according to the lawsuit.
“Meta’s years-long and ongoing infringement of the Eight Mile compositions is another case of a trillion-dollar company exploiting the creative efforts of musical artists for the benefit of its executives and shareholders,” the lawsuit reads.
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