Lawyer Says He Dropped Meta As Shopper After Zuckerberg Coverage Adjustments

• A Stanford regulation professor dropped Meta as a consumer within the wake of Mark Zuckerberg’s latest adjustments.
• Mark Lemley represented Meta in a 2023 AI copyright case involving comic Sarah Silverman and others.
• Zuckerberg’s latest adjustments at Meta extra carefully align with Elon Musk’s opinions and methods.

Mark Lemley, a Stanford regulation professor and lawyer who represented Meta in a 2023 AI copyright case, says he has dropped the corporate as a consumer due to what he described as CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s “descent into poisonous masculinity and Neo-Nazi insanity.”

“I’ve fired Meta as a consumer. Whereas I believe they’re on the precise facet within the generative AI copyright dispute during which I represented them, and I hope they win, I can’t in good conscience function their lawyer any longer,” Lemley, a associate on the regulation agency Lex Lumina, wrote in a LinkedIn submit on Monday.

Lemley and Lex Lumina represented Meta when comic Sarah Silverman and different authors sued the Fb proprietor in 2023, saying it violated copyright by coaching the Llama AI mannequin on books they’d written.

On the time, Meta’s legal professionals argued the claims ought to fail as a result of the authors couldn’t show Llama generated textual content that carefully resembled their books. The case is ongoing.

Within the LinkedIn submit, Lemley additionally stated he was altering how he used some Meta merchandise.

He has deactivated his Threads account as he didn’t need to “assist a Twitter-like website run by a Musk wannabe.”

The lawyer additionally stated he’ll now not purchase something from advertisements he encounters on Fb or Instagram.

“Whereas I’ve thought of quitting Fb, I discover nice worth within the connections and associates I’ve right here,” Lemley wrote.

Lemley is a senior fellow on the Stanford Institute for Financial Coverage Analysis. At Lex Lumina, he works with purchasers on instances pertaining to mental property, antitrust, and web regulation.

Lemley, Lex Lumina, Sarah Silverman and Meta didn’t reply to requests for remark from Enterprise Insider.

Adjustments at Meta

Because the begin of the 12 months, Zuckerberg has made sweeping adjustments to Meta. They embody eliminating third-party fact-checking on the platform within the US in favor of neighborhood notes.

Meta additionally deliberate to cut back range, fairness, and inclusion initiatives.

Zuckerberg lately stated Meta wants extra “masculine power.”

“Masculine power, I believe, is sweet, and clearly society has loads of that, however I believe that company tradition was actually attempting to get away from it,” he advised the “Joe Rogan Expertise” podcast.

Zuckerberg’s adjustments at Meta resemble these made by Tesla and X proprietor Elon Musk.

Musk has spoken out in opposition to DEI and content material moderation. Politically, Musk has thrown his assist behind right-leaning political events and figures in Europe and the US.

He is a outstanding supporter of President-elect Donald Trump, and is joined lead of a fee known as the Division of Authorities Effectivity, or DOGE.

In politics and relationship-building with Trump, too, Zuckerberg’s actions are beginning to mirror Musk’s. Meta donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund. Zuckerberg additionally declined to endorse any candidate throughout the 2024 election marketing campaign.

These strikes mark a definite change in how Zuckerberg approaches Trump.

In 2020, after Fb was criticized over the then-president’s violent remarks on the platform, Zuckerberg stated he was “deeply shaken and disgusted by President Trump’s divisive and incendiary rhetoric.”

Trump was barred from Fb and Instagram in 2021 for what Meta known as praising “individuals engaged in violence on the Capitol on January 6.” Meta reversed the choice two years later.