Reddit sues Perplexity and others over unlawful data scraping
Reddit filed a federal lawsuit in New York accusing Perplexity AI and three data-scraping firms - Oxylabs UAB, AWMProxy, and SerpApi - of unlawfully harvesting Reddit content.
The complaint states that Perplexity and its partners bypassed Reddit’s anti-scraping systems and Google’s controls to collect user-generated content that Reddit licenses to AI companies. Reddit aims to stop what it calls “industrial-scale” scraping and protect the commercial value of its discussion archive under its data-licensing strategy.
Perplexity's business model is effectively to take Reddit's content from Google search results," then feed it into an A.I. model and call it a new product,"Reddit said in the lawsuit.
Reddit previously sued Anthropic in June and noted that it has signed paid data deals with companies such as OpenAI and Google.
Perplexity publicly responded to the lawsuit, denying any wrongdoing. In a Reddit post, the AI startup called the case a “sad example” of what can happen when public data becomes a core part of a public company’s business model. The company said it does not train AI foundation models and therefore has no reason to sign data-licensing deals like those Reddit has with OpenAI and Google.
According to Perplexity, Reddit previously demanded payment even after the company clarified that it only summarizes and cites Reddit discussions - similar to how users share links online. The startup said its citation feature was designed to let users verify AI-generated answers and explore original sources.
What does Perplexity actually do with Reddit content? We summarize Reddit discussions, and we cite Reddit threads in answers, just like people share links to posts here all the time.
Perplexity accused Reddit of using the lawsuit as leverage in its data-licensing negotiations with major AI firms, describing the move as “strong-arm tactics.” The company said it will “play fair” but “won’t be extorted” or used in disputes between Reddit and its competitors.
The lawsuit comes amid intensifying competition over how people find information online, as AI’s role in the search industry continues to grow. On October 21, OpenAI launched its AI-powered browser, ChatGPT Atlas, marking another development in online search.
Author
Web3 writer and crypto HODLer with a keen interest in market trends and recent technologies.
