The lawsuit alleges copyright infringement, unfair competition and paywall circumvention.
Folha has filed a lawsuit against Perplexity AI, demanding that the U.S. technology company immediately stop collecting and using the newspaper’s content without authorization —and without compensation — to power its artificial intelligence platform.
The lawsuit filed in São Paulo also seeks compensation for the improper use of news reports to train AI models and for providing internet users with summaries and copies of news articles, including content exclusively available to paying subscribers, without any authorization.
The newspaper is also asking Perplexity to destroy the artificial intelligence models that used its copyrighted material.
The judge handling the case ordered the U.S. company to respond within 72 hours.
Folha is also asking the court to impose a daily fine if Perplexity fails to comply with the order blocking access to the content.
According to the newspaper’s attorney, Taís Gasparian, "the lawsuit is based on three points: unfair competition, paywall circumvention and copyright infringement. The enormous effort that good journalism makes to stay afloat is undermined by the unauthorized use of its content, through the circumvention of rules."
The technical measures Folha uses to prevent the practice are ignored or circumvented by the AI chatbot’s mechanisms. The newspaper recorded hundreds of thousands of unauthorized accesses.
Folha’s lawsuit also points out that the newspaper attempted to negotiate an amicable licensing agreement with Perplexity, following the model of financial partnerships for content use signed with OpenAI and Google, but the defendant ignored the proposal.
Folha also sued OpenAI in 2025, but in May this year the newspaper and UOL announced a groundbreaking agreement in Brazil with the startup. Also in 2025, Folha signed a similar partnership with Google to improve Gemini.
In several countries, Perplexity is facing lawsuits from media groups over the unauthorized use of their content.
The New York Times also sued OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement in 2023. The newspaper says the AI company should pay billions of dollars in damages for "illegally copying and using valuable content." The companies remain engaged in a legal dispute.
Source: Folha de S. Paulo
