{"rewrite":{"id":"r_4dced10f2f63f546dd69a569","clusterId":"c_2cc5168403a6bb5dfb78aa35","slug":"judge-orders-meta-to-name-everyone-who-approved-shadow-library-downloads","model":"deepseek-v4-1-flash","headline":"Judge Orders Meta to Name Everyone Who Approved Shadow Library Downloads","summary":"A US magistrate judge ordered Meta on October 19, 2026 to identify every person involved in decisions to obtain pirated books from shadow libraries and to use BitTorrent. Judge Thomas Hixson rejected Meta's argument that consensus team decisions excused it from naming individuals. Meta must also explain how it handled the plaintiff's works that were downloaded but never used for training.","whyItMatters":"Meta's defense that data decisions were made by team consensus did not survive the first test, and the court is now pressing for names and for an account of downloaded works the company never trained on.","webCardHtml":"\u003cp\u003eThe order grew out of a discovery request from Entrepreneur Media, which is suing Meta over copyright and asked for \u0026#34;all persons who made, approved, or authorized the decision to obtain the shadow library datasets.\u0026#34; Meta named some individuals but drew back from naming the executives who approved torrent use, saying such calls are often made by team consensus.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJudge Thomas Hixson was not persuaded: if a team made the decision, the court wants everyone on the team, and Meta must also say who joined the discussions before torrents were used and who directed or approved the April 2024 downloads. The judge further faulted Meta for leaving unanswered how it handled the plaintiff\u0026#39;s works that were downloaded but never used for training.\u003c/p\u003e","blueskyPost":"Judge Thomas Hixson rejected Meta's claim that consensus team decisions excused naming individuals. That ruling forces the company to reconstruct who approved shadow library downloads rather than pointing to a group.","twitterPost":"Meta must now name each person behind shadow library download approvals after its consensus team defense failed.","threadsPost":"Judge Thomas Hixson rejected Meta's argument that consensus team decisions excused it from naming individuals, so the company must now identify every person who approved shadow library and BitTorrent downloads. Group decisions no longer shield anyone.","newsletterBlurb":"Meta has been ordered to identify all participants in decisions to obtain pirated books from shadow libraries and to use BitTorrent. Judge Thomas Hixson rejected the company's claim that consensus decisions left no single person to name. The court also wants an account of the plaintiff's works that were downloaded but never used for training.","attributionJson":"[{\"source\":\"GIGAZINE\",\"url\":\"https://gigazine.net/news/20261021-meta-approved-torrenting/\",\"title\":\"Judge Orders Meta to Identify Everyone Who Approved Obtaining Books from Shadow Libraries and Torrent Sites\"}]","lintFlagsJson":null,"lintHits":0,"costUsd":0,"inputTokens":4644,"outputTokens":549,"status":"published","repairAttempts":0,"nextRepairAt":null,"factsAttemptedAt":1792570031,"createdAt":"2026-10-21T08:02:42.000Z","publishedAt":"2026-10-21T08:06:07.000Z","updatedAt":"2026-10-21T08:06:07.000Z"},"cluster":{"id":"c_2cc5168403a6bb5dfb78aa35","canonicalTitle":"裁判官がMetaに対しシャドウライブラリやトレントサイトから書籍を入手することを承認した人物全員を特定するよう命じる","representativeArticleId":"a_1562f535b484dd270e6e757d","sourceCount":1,"writtenSourceCount":1,"writeAttempts":0,"isSolo":true,"entitiesJson":"{\"anime_titles\":[],\"manga_titles\":[],\"work_titles\":[],\"studios\":[\"Meta\"],\"people\":[],\"type\":\"news\",\"domain\":\"industry\",\"is_roundup\":false}","contentType":"news","status":"published","firstSeenAt":"2026-10-21T04:22:00.000Z","lastSeenAt":"2026-10-21T04:22:00.000Z","updatedAt":"2026-10-21T08:06:07.000Z"},"attribution":[{"source":"GIGAZINE","url":"https://gigazine.net/news/20261021-meta-approved-torrenting/","title":"裁判官がMetaに対しシャドウライブラリやトレントサイトから書籍を入手することを承認した人物全員を特定するよう命じる"}],"entities":{"anime_titles":[],"manga_titles":[],"work_titles":[],"studios":["Meta"],"people":[],"type":"news","domain":"industry","is_roundup":false},"keyFacts":null}