Meta Surges to $7.49 Billion Trading Volume as Leaked Docs Expose Controversial AI Data Scraping and Legal Risks

On August 6, 2025, Meta (META) rose 1.12% to a daily volume of $7.49 billion, ranking eighth in trading activity. A leaked internal list revealed the company systematically scraped content from approximately 6 million websites, including major publishers, adult platforms, and revenge porn domains, to train its AI models. The data harvesting bypassed standard web protocols like robots.txt, raising legal and ethical concerns over copyright violations and privacy risks. Whistleblowers cited Meta’s political stances and unethical practices as motivations for leaking the information, which highlights potential regulatory scrutiny and reputational damage.

The leaked documents show Meta’s AI training infrastructure relies on aggressive data collection from Content Delivery Networks (CDNs), enabling access to cached content while ignoring site owners’ anti-scraping measures. This strategy aligns with the company’s $72 billion 2025 capital expenditure plan, focusing on AI development and data center expansion. Legal challenges persist, with a recent court ruling limiting Meta’s liability for using copyrighted works in AI models but leaving room for future lawsuits. The company’s competitive moves, including luring OpenAI researchers with multi-million-dollar bonuses and scraping OpenAI’s content, underscore its aggressive AI strategy amid industry-wide debates over data ethics.

Regulatory pressures intensify as Meta resists the European Union’s AI code of practice, citing legal uncertainties for developers. Meanwhile, publishers and digital rights advocates criticize the firm’s approach, arguing it undermines content creators’ rights and privacy. The revelations coincide with growing industry resistance to unauthorized scraping, with over 35% of top websites now blocking AI crawlers. Meta’s handling of AI training data remains a critical risk factor, balancing innovation against mounting legal, ethical, and regulatory challenges.

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