São Paulo court bars Meta from using Brazilian press content to train AI without permission, with R$1 million daily fines

A São Paulo state court judge, Guilherme Madeira Dezem, granted a preliminary injunction on November 3 barring Meta from collecting or using content from Brazilian press outlets without permission, including to develop and train artificial intelligence systems. The order also suspends the relevant part of Meta's new commercial terms, which had been due to take effect on November 20.

Three associations sued over a 'toll' clause

The case was brought by the National Newspaper Association (ANJ), the Brazilian Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters (ABERT) and the National Association of Magazine Publishers (ANER). The associations argued that Meta's new terms demanded free access to their content as the price of continued use of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads — and that the clause covered not only content posted on the platforms, but also automated collection, copying, storage and analysis of articles, photographs and videos on publishers' own websites. The judge wrote that imposing the free and universal surrender of copyrighted works as a toll for remaining connected to the channels through which the contemporary public consumes news constitutes a manifest abuse of rights.

Fines and what happens next

The injunction bars Meta from blocking, restricting or penalising the accounts, pages and tools of outlets that refuse the new terms, with a daily fine of R$1 million (about US$180,000 at AFP's conversion) for non-compliance, capped at R$100 million. Because the judge found that damage would be irreversible once an AI system had been trained on press material, the ruling was issued without first hearing Meta; the company has five days after notification to present its defence. The injunction is preliminary, not a final judgment, and the case still awaits a final ruling.

A contrasting opinion from Europe the same day

On the same day, Advocate General Maciej Szpunar at the EU's top court advised in a separate case that training is generally permitted under the text-and-data-mining exception, while a live answer that replaces an article may infringe. The contrasting opinions show that global rules on AI training and press copyright remain unsettled.

(Sources: AFP, November 4, 2026, which consulted the injunction; joint statement by ANJ, ABERT and ANER, November 3, 2026. Cover photo is a file photo of Avenida Paulista in São Paulo.)