Folha de São Paulo files lawsuit against OpenAI for unauthorized use of its journalism in ChatGPT training

On August 20, 2025, the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo filed a lawsuit in São Paulo against OpenAI, alleging unfair competition and copyright infringement due to the use of its articles — including paywalled content — in training ChatGPT models without authorization or compensation. The complaint requests immediate cessation of the practice, compensation for damages, and destruction of any AI models built using the newspaper’s content.

The lawsuit is supported by technical records indicating over 45,000 accesses by OpenAI bots to Folha’s website in July 2025, as well as evidence from public repositories suggesting the use of the newspaper’s domain as a data source. It further alleges that ChatGPT reproduced full articles on the same day of publication, a practice that, according to the claimant, diverts digital traffic and directly undermines its subscription- and advertising-based business model.

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