Reddit's DMCA fight takes new turn against SerpApi and Perplexity
A judge says Reddit plausibly pleaded conspiracy with SerpApi and Perplexity AI to scrape copyrighted content
A U.S. District Judge has allowed Reddit’s controversial DMCA lawsuit against SerpApi and Perplexity AI to proceed, ruling that Reddit plausibly pleaded conspiracy to circumvent access controls and scrape copyrighted content from Google search results. Judge Paul A. Engelmayer denied a motion to dismiss filed by SerpApi, noting that at this early stage, Reddit provided sufficient evidence to suggest SerpApi provided tools to bypass Google’s access controls while Perplexity AI paid for scraped Reddit data embedded in search snippets.
The ruling comes just weeks after another court dismissed Google’s similar lawsuit, highlighting a key legal distinction: Reddit’s licensing agreement with Google specifically prohibits partners from retaining content after users remove it. Reddit argued that millions of posts are deleted monthly and that unauthorized scraping—like SerpApi’s partnership with Perplexity—undermines its ability to honor user removals, harming both reputation and revenue. Reddit is now seeking three injunctions: blocking SerpApi and Perplexity AI from accessing Reddit and Google, stopping circumvention of Google’s SearchGuard, and preventing use of previously scraped data.
- Judge Engelmayer ruled Reddit plausibly pleaded that SerpApi and Perplexity AI conspired to bypass Google access controls to scrape Reddit content
- Reddit’s licensing deal with Google may authorize anti-circumvention tools despite being finalized before Google introduced SearchGuard
- Reddit seeks injunctions and damages, arguing unauthorized scraping violates content removal promises and harms user trust and revenue
Why It Matters
This case could set a precedent for how AI companies scrape and use licensed web content, reshaping licensing agreements and access to public data.