Authors and publishing professionals will demonstrate outside Meta’s King’s Cross office in London today, protesting the company’s controversial use of copyrighted books from the notorious “shadow library” LibGen to train its artificial intelligence models.
Prominent novelists Kate Mosse and Tracy Chevalier, alongside poet and former Royal Society of Literature chair Daljit Nagra, are among those expected to participate in the protest. Demonstrators will assemble at Granary Square at 1:30 pm, with the Society of Authors (SoA) delivering a letter directly to Meta’s London offices at 1:45 pm. The letter will also be forwarded to Meta’s headquarters in the United States.
The protest follows revelations earlier this year that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly approved the use of LibGen, an unauthorized digital library containing over 7.5 million books. The controversy intensified when the Atlantic published a searchable database listing titles found on LibGen, alerting many authors to the unauthorized use of their works in training AI.
Authors Denounce Meta’s Actions as ‘Devastating’
SoA chair Vanessa Fox O’Loughlin strongly condemned Meta’s actions, labeling them “illegal, shocking, and utterly devastating for writers.” She emphasized that creating books often takes years, stating that Meta had “stolen books so that their AI can reproduce creative content, potentially putting these same authors out of business.”
READ MORE: Hands-On With Nintendo Switch 2: 2025’s Gaming Essential
Responding to the backlash, a Meta spokesperson stated: “We respect third-party intellectual property rights and believe our use of information to train AI models is consistent with existing law.”
Authors Demand Government Intervention
The controversy prompted a group of distinguished authors—including Mosse, Richard Osman, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Val McDermid—to sign an open letter to culture secretary Lisa Nandy, calling for Meta executives to face parliamentary scrutiny. The petition, hosted on Change.org, has amassed over 7,000 signatures to date.
AJ West, an author leading today’s protest, expressed personal outrage upon discovering his works included in the LibGen database. “I was horrified to see that my novels were on the LibGen database and disgusted by the government’s silence,” West said. “To have my beautiful books ripped off without permission or compensation and fed to the AI monster feels like I’ve been mugged.”
Legal Actions Escalate
A legal battle is already underway in the US, where authors such as Ta-Nehisi Coates, Jacqueline Woodson, Andrew Sean Greer, Junot Díaz, and comedian Sarah Silverman are suing Meta for copyright infringement. The January court filing alleges that senior Meta executives, including Zuckerberg, knowingly authorized the use of LibGen despite recognizing it contained pirated materials.
SoA Chief Executive Anna Ganley reinforced the seriousness of the situation, stating authors were “rightly up in arms.” She described the continued existence of pirated online libraries as unacceptable, highlighting the compounded harm when major corporations exploit such resources unlawfully.
Subheading: Rallying for Justice
Participants are encouraged to bring placards and use protest hashtags including #MetaBookThieves, #DoTheWriteThing, and #MakeItFair. The demonstration underscores growing tensions between creators and tech companies amid rapid AI advancements, raising fundamental questions about intellectual property rights and fair compensation in the digital age.
