Reddit soars after suing Anthropic, alleging it trained AI on personal user data without permission
While other AI companies have played by the rules, Reddit says Anthropic has officially crossed the line.
Reddit shares popped nearly 8% Tuesday afternoon after the social media platform filed a lawsuit against AI startup Anthropic. In the suit, Reddit alleges Anthropic engaged in “unlawful and unfair business acts” by using its data without permission.
Reddit alleges that Anthropic, in particular, has been using personal information from its users to train AI models.
The lawsuit, filed in San Francisco, says that other AI giants have respected the platform’s rules, which is why Reddit has entered formal licensing partnerships with companies like OpenAI and Google. Reddit has become a key player in the generative-AI boom, thanks to its massive archive of user-generated content that’s become prime training material for AI models like Anthropic’s Claude.
“While Reddit has always been of the mind that the community should be open to all humans looking for connection and community, it has never allowed its platform and the countless communities who find a home on it to be appropriated by commercial actors seeking to create billion-dollar enterprises and offering nothing in return to Reddit and its users,” the lawsuit states.
Reddit said it’s seeking damages and aims to compel Anthropic to comply with its contractual and legal obligations. Reddit shares are down about 28% year to date, but have more than doubled over the past year.
