Perplexity faces allegations of unauthorized content scraping from CNN and providing users access to material typically restricted by CNN's subscription paywall.
In a significant legal move, CNN has initiated a lawsuit against Perplexity in a New York court, asserting that the AI startup's tools produce "verbatim" reproductions of its journalistic content. The suit, filed on Thursday, further contends that Perplexity is making information available to users that is otherwise behind CNN's subscription barrier.
Perplexity, known for its AI "answer" engine and companion AI browser Comet, is accused of disregarding CNN's attempts to "recognize or block Perplexity’s unidentified crawlers" from illicitly extracting its content. The lawsuit underscores the human effort involved, stating, "Human beings report, research, write, edit, and create the content that Perplexity takes without permission or compensation."
As an illustrative example, CNN points to Perplexity’s AI search tool generating "substantial" verbatim segments of its article, "What’s next for Minneapolis? A shaky promise, mounting tensions and the fight for control," merely from a title prompt. This legal action positions CNN among a growing list of entities pursuing copyright infringement claims against Perplexity, including prominent publishers like The New York Times, Encyclopedia Britannica, Merriam-Webster, and News Corp, parent company of The Wall Street Journal. Perplexity is also defending against lawsuits from Amazon and Reddit.
The lawsuit further reveals that a potential agreement for CNN to license its content for Perplexity’s Comet Plus subscription by October 2025 failed to materialize. This breakdown, according to CNN, stemmed from an "inability to agree on multiple issues, including limits on Perplexity’s use of CNN content in its answers to users." CNN subsequently terminated discussions in November and issued a formal letter to Perplexity, demanding an immediate halt to the unauthorized use of its content and trademarks, a demand to which Perplexity reportedly did not respond.
CNN is seeking both financial damages and a permanent injunction to prevent Perplexity's continued alleged unlawful activities. When contacted for comment, Perplexity spokesperson Jesse Dwyer offered a succinct defense, stating, “You can’t copyright facts.”
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