EANA: Unsealed court filings show AI scraping of news content was deliberate and uncompensated
The Board of the European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA) took note, with grave concern, about the revelations contained in the newly unsealed court filings in the copyright litigation brought by the New York Times against Microsoft and OpenAI.
Internal documents disclosed in the case show that senior executives at the companies were privately aware that large-scale scraping of journalistic content constituted, in their own words, "the largest theft of labor in human history," that their AI products threatened to substitute for professional journalism, and that their practices risked triggering a "doom loop" that would damage both the open web and the AI models themselves. At the same time, news providers are called "essential suppliers" for LLMs in the same documents.
These newly revealed admissions point again to the fact that the use of news agency content for training generative AI systems had never been incidental nor was it followed by fair remuneration. On the contrary, it looks like a commercial strategy that was, with awareness, built on the uncompensated work of journalists.
EANA reiterates its position that news agencies are part of the critical infrastructure of democratic societies and that their sustainability depends on fair licensing frameworks. Naturally, AI developers must end unlawful and opaque practices and negotiate consent-based licensing agreements with rights holders, thus ensuring that quality journalism continues to be produced, to the benefit of our societies. We stand in solidarity with all publishers pursuing their rights before the courts, and we call on policymakers in Europe and beyond to ensure that transparency, consent and remuneration remain the foundation of any AI development built upon the work of the press.
“These statements demonstrate what we always saw very clearly: the news media, including news agencies, are essential suppliers for LLMs, in their own words. Quality journalistic content is valuable for AI companies precisely because it is accurate, verified and clearly written, and, unfortunately, that value has been taken without consent or compensation. Innovation and integrity are not mutually exclusive. There is a clear path where AI companies use our journalism with fairness, following proper consent, through genuine partnerships based on fair compensation. What we’re reading now from these court filings has nothing to do with that." said Alexandru Giboi, Secretary General of EANA.
About EANA The European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA) was founded on 21 August 1956 in Strasbourg. Today it brings together 33 member agencies across Europe, serving as a forum for cooperation, knowledge exchange, and the advancement of news agency journalism. EANA is headquartered in Bern, Switzerland. For more information about EANA, visit www.newsalliance.org.
Media Contact for EANA: Alexandru Giboi - secretarygeneral@newsalliance.org
