A group of YouTubers has filed a lawsuit against Snap, alleging the company used their YouTube videos without permission to train AI models used in Snapchat features such as “Imagine Lens.” The creators say the case is a proposed class action filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and is seeking statutory damages plus a permanent injunction to stop the alleged infringement.
The plaintiffs are content creators behind three YouTube channels with about 6.2 million combined subscribers, and the suit is led by the creators of the h3h3 channel along with the golf-focused channels MrShortGame Golf and Golfholics. The lawsuit adds Snap to a broader set of tech companies these YouTubers have targeted with similar claims, including Nvidia, Meta, and ByteDance.
Claims center on AI training and “Imagine Lens”
In the complaint, the YouTubers allege Snap trained its AI systems on their video content for AI features like the “Imagine Lens,” which TechCrunch describes as letting users edit images using text prompts. The creators argue that their videos were used without authorization as part of building these AI capabilities.
The lawsuit also points to the use of large-scale video-language datasets. TechCrunch reports the plaintiffs specifically call out a dataset known as “HD-VILA-100M,” while Mezha describes the dataset name as “VILA100M,” creating a discrepancy in how the dataset is identified across reports.
Allegations about bypassing YouTube restrictions
The YouTubers claim Snap used datasets that were intended only for academic and research purposes, not commercial applications. According to TechCrunch, the plaintiffs allege that to use these datasets commercially, Snap circumvented YouTube’s technological restrictions, terms of service, and licensing limitations that prohibit commercial use.
AInvest similarly reports that the plaintiffs claim Snap bypassed YouTube’s restrictions and used large-scale video-language datasets for commercial purposes. The creators are asking the court for statutory damages and a permanent injunction aimed at preventing further alleged infringement.
Part of a growing wave of AI copyright lawsuits
The case is described as one of many lawsuits that pit content creators against AI model providers, including disputes brought by publishers, authors, newspapers, user-generated content sites, and artists. TechCrunch cites the nonprofit Copyright Alliance as saying that more than 70 copyright infringement cases have been filed against AI companies.
Some related cases have had different outcomes, according to the reporting cited by TechCrunch and Mezha. TechCrunch says that in one case involving Meta and a group of authors, a judge ruled in Meta’s favor, while in another case involving Anthropic and a group of authors, the company settled and paid the plaintiffs to resolve the claims.
Snap response not included in reports
TechCrunch reports Snap was asked for comment and that it would update if a response is provided. Mezha also states that Snap has been approached for comment and that TechCrunch planned to update its reporting if Snap responds.
