{"id":1572,"date":"2026-07-24T20:14:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T20:14:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1572"},"modified":"2026-07-24T20:14:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T20:14:19","slug":"why-would-meta-download-so-much-porn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1572","title":{"rendered":"Why Would Meta Download So Much Porn?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Editor\u2019s note: <\/em>This work is part of AI Watchdog, <\/em>The Atlantic<\/small>\u2019s ongoing investigation into the generative-AI industry.<\/small><\/em><\/p>\n

Read more Does Iran Have a Plan?<\/a><\/p>\n

Amid tech companies\u2019 ongoing efforts<\/span> to vacuum up as much data as possible to train AI models, Meta has taken public posts from its own platforms, scraped massive amounts of content from the rest of the internet, and pirated millions<\/u> of books to train its AI models. Now the company is being accused of downloading much more illicit material: huge volumes of porn, nonconsensual celebrity nudes, blueprints for 3-D-printable handguns, and millions of passwords acquired by hackers.<\/p>\n

Strike 3, the parent company of Vixen Media Group, a prolific producer of adult films, is suing<\/u> Meta for allegedly downloading 2,973 of its copyrighted videos. But in its efforts to collect evidence about these purported downloads, Strike 3 also captured information relating to many other files that Meta may have acquired over the course of two years: They include images from \u201cCelebgate,\u201d a 2014 hack that resulted in the leak of private photos belonging to Jennifer Lawrence, Kirsten Dunst, and others, plus several collections of deepfake celebrity porn featuring the faces of Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, Elizabeth Olsen, Gal Gadot, and others.<\/p>\n

Strike 3\u2019s file-transfer lists include ordinary movies and TV shows, alongside dozens of videos from GirlsDoPorn, which was shut down after six people associated with the site were charged with sex trafficking<\/u>. Meta allegedly downloaded several individual episodes from the website and two \u201cGirlsDoPorn MegaPack\u201d archives. Strike 3 also presents evidence that Meta made some content publicly available in addition to downloading it.<\/p>\n

When I reached out to Meta, a spokesperson told me via email that \u201cthese claims are bogus.\u201d Meta also noted in a court filing that Strike 3, which regularly files lawsuits against people who download its work illegally, \u201chas been labeled by some as a \u2018copyright troll.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

This is a complicated case. Piracy can be hard to track with precision, and both parties are clearly conflicted: Strike 3, in seeking damages, wants Meta to look bad, and Meta would prefer not to be associated with this kind of content. Yet if Strike 3\u2019s data are accurate, they would show that participating in mass piracy is a by-product of modern tech development\u2014whether or not any of the material collected is explicitly used to engineer AI models or other programs.<\/p>\n

Although Meta acknowledged the possibility that employees, contractors, or even visitors to Meta\u2019s offices may have used the company\u2019s networks to download the porn in question, its defense in court was that the material was accessed for \u201cpersonal consumption\u201d rather than as part of a company project. But neither the sheer volume nor the pattern of downloads looks like personal consumption. The file-transfer logs produced by Strike 3 show sequences of files that are unrelated except for a certain keyword or concept. For example, two files that were transferred consecutively on June 2, 2023\u2014\u201cBajillion Dollar Properties S01E07\u201d and \u201cFirst Time Home Buyer Anal Fantasy\u201d\u2014are both loosely themed around real estate, but the similarities likely end there. Judge Eumi Lee, who denied<\/u> Meta\u2019s motion to dismiss the case, cited other such juxtapositions, such as consecutive downloads of \u201cTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987-1996)\u201d and a video labeled \u201cTeen Sex Sessions 2 (2012).\u201d<\/p>\n

Strike 3 has argued that the content could be used for AI training. A Meta spokesperson told me, \u201cWe don\u2019t want this type of content, and we take deliberate steps to avoid training on this kind of material.\u201d In its legal defense, Meta pointed out that its terms of service prohibit users from using its AI products to generate images containing pornography. Even if Meta isn\u2019t building a porn-generating bot, however, tech companies can use \u201cunsafe\u201d content to test guardrails for their systems\u2014effectively telling the software what not <\/i>to generate. (Lee noted that Meta\u2019s terms of service are irrelevant to the question of whether it wants to acquire porn.)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also possible that Meta is compiling an archive of material for no precise purpose, just as Anthropic acquired millions of books that it says it had no intention of using for AI training but wanted to keep for its \u201c.\u201d As AI-training techniques advance, there is no telling what kind of content a company might find useful in the future.<\/p>\n

Read more Homer Was the Homer of the Zulus<\/a><\/p>\n

Nineteen of the allegedly downloaded files contain models of functional handguns that can be produced with 3-D printers. A file labeled \u201c5.7 million passwords list\u201d purportedly contains 5,718,107 passwords from accounts that were hacked from 2015 to 2019. The downloads also include password-cracking tools that can be used by hackers to break into people\u2019s accounts. Other files include the movies BlacKkKlansman<\/i>, The Banshees of Inisherin<\/i>, and everything made by Studio Ghibli from 1979 to 2020; music by Dua Lipa, Elton John, and Paul McCartney; radio shows and podcasts such as The Howard Stern Show<\/i> and 1619<\/i>; and software including Microsoft Windows, Adobe Photoshop, Ableton Live, and NBA 2K23.<\/p>\n

The files were downloaded through BitTorrent, a system that allows people to share files among themselves. When you download files via BitTorrent, you typically share those files with other people at the same time; if nobody is sharing the files, then nobody can download them. According to Strike 3\u2019s data, which lawyers from the company told me it regularly gathers in an effort to track the illegal distribution of its intellectual property, devices on Meta\u2019s networks also made some of Strike 3\u2019s videos available to others\u2014a practice known as \u201cseeding\u201d\u2014for as long as three months after fully downloading them.<\/p>\n

Meta additionally used BitTorrent to acquire large quantities of copyrighted books around the same time, as shown in from another lawsuit. Some Meta employees were uncomfortable with this activity. According to court documents, Jelmer van der Linde, a former Meta employee who was asked to download books to train the company\u2019s AI models in 2024, told his supervisor in a work chat message that it seemed like a \u201cvery very dark grey area. Legally, ethically \u2026\u201d He added that torrenting \u201ccopyrighted material is not very legal either.\u201d He was transferred to a different project, and another developer downloaded the books instead. He has since left Meta and now works at the Ellison Institute of Technology in Oxford.<\/p>\n

To verify Strike 3\u2019s data, I reached out to Tom Chothia, a professor of cybersecurity at the University of Birmingham who has studied BitTorrent. He reviewed a technical description of Strike 3\u2019s data-collection methods and told me that, assuming the records weren\u2019t tampered with, \u201cthey have established that people at Meta were uploading\u201d Strike 3\u2019s videos.<\/p>\n

One thing that complicates the case is that most of the torrenting did not occur over Meta\u2019s corporate networks. Strike 3\u2019s data show sequences of related file transfers across several networks, including Meta\u2019s. Strike 3 argues that the other networks were used remotely in a coordinated way, perhaps to make the activity harder to trace. Meta has called the patterns a coincidence. But Lee found them compelling, writing<\/u> that Meta\u2019s coincidence theory \u201cstrains belief\u201d and that the activity is likely indicative of \u201calgorithmically coordinated behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nearly 300 of the transfers were traced to a private residence in Mountain View, California. Strike 3 claims that this was the home of a Meta contractor\u2019s father, and that the file transfers stopped when the contractor stopped working for Meta. In response, Meta argued that these downloads were \u201cplainly indicative of personal consumption.\u201d According to Strike 3\u2019s logs, the files downloaded to the residence include, in addition to porn, Russian-language books, Chinese movies, and a wide variety of cracked software, among other things.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, in the AI era, illegal mass-downloading by tech companies is not uncommon. Other lawsuits have revealed that OpenAI and Anthropic have also used BitTorrent to download copyrighted books. Whether they have uploaded those books as well, or what other content they may have downloaded through BitTorrent, is not yet clear.<\/p>\n

BitTorrent is a strange world in which to find respectable megacorporations. It is dominated by media piracy, and very little legitimate file-sharing occurs. But if AI models are intended to replace human creators, then they have to be trained on as much human-created content as possible. BitTorrent is perhaps the fastest and cheapest way to download high-quality work in large quantities. AI companies have claimed that their models can create original work, but so far, the development of artificial intelligence has involved a lot of theft of other people\u2019s intelligence.<\/p>\n

Read more What Climate Fiction Should Accomplish<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Filings from a recent lawsuit allege that the tech company accessed\u2014and distributed\u2014copyrighted adult films, blueprints for 3-D-printable handguns, celebrity deepfakes, and more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1571,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Would Meta Download So Much Porn? - Commercial Relocation Pros<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1572\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Would Meta Download So Much Porn? - Commercial Relocation Pros\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Filings from a recent lawsuit allege that the tech company accessed\u2014and distributed\u2014copyrighted adult films, blueprints for 3-D-printable handguns, celebrity deepfakes, and more.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1572\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Commercial Relocation Pros\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-24T20:14:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1572#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1572\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3a3374a445f1b5d4852b1d7c15b9fe3a\"},\"headline\":\"Why Would Meta Download So Much Porn?\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-24T20:14:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1572\"},\"wordCount\":1427,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1572#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/9eef08bd7cb1fa8c66870c54109fe10f.avif\",\"articleSection\":[\"Technology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1572#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1572\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1572\",\"name\":\"Why Would Meta Download So Much Porn? - Commercial Relocation Pros\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1572#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1572#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/9eef08bd7cb1fa8c66870c54109fe10f.avif\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-24T20:14:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3a3374a445f1b5d4852b1d7c15b9fe3a\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1572#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1572\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1572#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/9eef08bd7cb1fa8c66870c54109fe10f.avif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/9eef08bd7cb1fa8c66870c54109fe10f.avif\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":625},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1572#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why Would Meta Download So Much Porn?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Commercial Relocation Pros\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3a3374a445f1b5d4852b1d7c15b9fe3a\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why Would Meta Download So Much Porn? - Commercial Relocation Pros","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1572","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why Would Meta Download So Much Porn? - Commercial Relocation Pros","og_description":"Filings from a recent lawsuit allege that the tech company accessed\u2014and distributed\u2014copyrighted adult films, blueprints for 3-D-printable handguns, celebrity deepfakes, and more.","og_url":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1572","og_site_name":"Commercial Relocation Pros","article_published_time":"2026-07-24T20:14:19+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1572#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1572"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3a3374a445f1b5d4852b1d7c15b9fe3a"},"headline":"Why Would Meta Download So Much Porn?","datePublished":"2026-07-24T20:14:19+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1572"},"wordCount":1427,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1572#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/9eef08bd7cb1fa8c66870c54109fe10f.avif","articleSection":["Technology"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1572#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1572","url":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1572","name":"Why Would Meta Download So Much Porn? - Commercial Relocation Pros","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1572#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1572#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/9eef08bd7cb1fa8c66870c54109fe10f.avif","datePublished":"2026-07-24T20:14:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3a3374a445f1b5d4852b1d7c15b9fe3a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1572#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1572"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1572#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/9eef08bd7cb1fa8c66870c54109fe10f.avif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/9eef08bd7cb1fa8c66870c54109fe10f.avif","width":1200,"height":625},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1572#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why Would Meta Download So Much Porn?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/","name":"Commercial Relocation Pros","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3a3374a445f1b5d4852b1d7c15b9fe3a","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com"],"url":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1572\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}