A Sao Paulo state court ordered Meta on Nov 3 to stop collecting content from Brazilian media outlets in three national press associations to train its artificial intelligence models. The preliminary injunction, seen by AFP, followed a civil suit by the associations alleging Meta – owner of Facebook, Instagram, Threads and Whatsapp – had demanded free access to content in exchange for continued use of its platforms. The judge set a daily fine of one million reais (S$233,000) if Meta fails to comply. Meta had placed the requirement in its new terms of service for businesses set to take effect on Nov 20; given the short timeline, Judge Guilherme Madeira Dezem issued his ruling without waiting for a response from the company. He agreed the damage to the media outlets would be “irreversible” once the AI were trained using their content, writing that “imposing on media outlets the free and universal surrender of their copyrighted works as a toll for remaining connected to the channels, through which the contemporary public consumes news, constitutes a manifest abuse of rights.” The judge suspended that section of the new terms of service and prohibited Meta from penalising media outlets that rejected them. Meta will have five days after notification of the ruling to present its defence. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AFP. Marcelo Rech, executive president of the National Association of Newspapers, one of the plaintiffs, said in a statement: “The preliminary injunction is a very positive sign that there