A federal judge allows Reddit to move forward with claims against Perplexity and SerpApi over alleged unauthorized scraping of Reddit content from Google search results. The case could impact how platforms protect user data.
Media and publishing professionals tracking copyright enforcement in the AI era have a new legal development to watch. Reddit has secured a federal court ruling that allows its lawsuit against Perplexity and SerpApi to proceed, after alleging the companies improperly accessed and used Reddit content scraped from Google search results.
U.S. District Court Judge Paul Engelmayer in New York ruled that Reddit's claims, if proven, could show violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's anti-circumvention rules. Reddit originally filed suit in October, accusing SerpApi and Perplexity of bypassing Google's SearchGuard system-which uses CAPTCHAs to block automated scraping-to obtain Reddit posts. The amended complaint, filed in February, further alleges that Perplexity used SerpApi's tools or directed others to do so in order to access Reddit data.
Reddit's filings state that the scraped content includes both user-generated posts and original works authored by Reddit itself, such as a detailed history of a subreddit written by an administrator. The company also claims reputational harm, arguing that its ability to honor user deletion requests is undermined when third-party scrapers retain deleted posts, despite Reddit's agreements with licensing partners like Google to respect such deletions.
SerpApi and Perplexity sought early dismissal, with SerpApi arguing that Reddit lacks standing because it does not own the copyright to user posts, and that the complaint does not show actual harm. Perplexity contended that Reddit's claims about its use of SerpApi's tools were too vague. Judge Engelmayer rejected these arguments for now, finding that Reddit's allegations, if substantiated, could support claims under the DMCA and for reputational injury related to privacy.
While some claims were dismissed, the court's decision allows Reddit to pursue its main arguments. A Reddit spokesperson said the company intends to protect the value of conversations created by its users. This ruling follows a recent decision in a separate case, where a different federal judge dismissed Google's complaint against SerpApi over similar scraping allegations, finding Google could not claim circumvention of restrictions on material it did not own or license.
Legal action over AI-driven content scraping is not limited to the US. In the UK, publishers have begun enforcing new contracts to charge AI companies for unauthorized use of their content, with industry groups supporting the move and legal action possible if payments are not made, as reported in recent coverage of UK publishers' efforts to bill AI firms for scraping.
