Our day of action began with the incredible news that our letter to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, the Rt Hon Lisa Nandy, had reached 10,000 signatories. The letter calls on the UK government to hold Meta to account in parliament after the shocking revelations in The Atlantic that it scraped millions of authors unlicensed works to train its AI model Llama 3, using the Library Genesis (LibGen) dataset.
Since last Thursday, signatures to the open letter have snowballed and, to date, we’ve collected over 42,000 signatures. We’re aiming for 100,000 signatures so that it will be debated in parliament. The open letter can be signed by anyone who loves books and wants to help protect the future of human creativity, so whether you’re an author or not – please sign and share, there’s still time! Huge thanks to all our amazing members who have already signed and shared.
Sign the petition
On the morning of the protest, at our Bloomsbury office, I recorded a protest podcast with our SoA Sounds podcast host, Theo Jones, which will be released on 14 April. We also recorded videos for our social media channels to remind our members to join us at Granary Square.
Since 2022, when we first heard about tech companies using copyright-protected works to train their large language models, members have been angry and feel helpless as government is yet to intervene. So, with this latest revelation, we decided to take action and hand deliver a letter to Meta, demanding that they provide assurances that authors’ copyrights will be respected and that payment for the use of copyright-protected works will now be made.
Arriving at Granary Square in the spring sunshine, we were delighted to welcome so many members. Among our 150 supporters was the Chair of our board, Vanessa Fox O’ Loughlin (aka the crime writer Sam Blake) who had travelled from Ireland to join us, and the familiar faces of a number of SoA Fellows, including Tracy Chevalier, Kate Mosse and Sita Brahmachari.
Many members had brought their own books and home-made placards, which made a great impact and really demonstrated the strength of feeling in our author community. We can’t thank members enough for their support, both in person and online.
Author and event organiser AJ West started the protest by giving a rousing speech, highlighting the personal impact felt by authors because of Meta’s alleged actions, and then with loud chants of ‘Meta, Meta Book Thieves’ ringing in our ears, we headed to Meta’s offices to deliver our letter.
It was no surprise to find the doors locked and security at the door. And while we were disappointed that Meta’s UK headquarters wouldn’t accept our letter in person, that didn’t deter us. It’s in the post, Meta!
Reflecting on last Thursday’s day of action, we feel galvanised by the public interest in this issue. Our protest piqued the interest of media outlets across the nations, and ITV reported in each region with interviews featuring several of our members.
Board member and children’s writer and illustrator, Abie Longstaff, penned a heartfelt piece for The Independent and we received widespread coverage from The Guardian, The Times, Daily Mail, The Mirror, The Japan Times and The Jakarta Post amongst others.
On your behalf, we will continue to demand that Meta, and any other tech companies who fail to respect your copyright, are held to account, and that any proposal to sacrifice your rights in the commercial interests of AI companies is resisted.
I wish to thank you all, personally, for your support, for helping to raise our collective voice as an author community, and for making our voice heard. Thank you.
With very best wishes,
Anna
Photographs © Louise Dillon and Adrian Pope