Writers’ rights groups picket Meta’s local office ahead of Children’s Book Week, citing shadow libraries, demanding compensation, control, and transparency and preparing a collective lawsuit.
Protesters say copyrighted books, articles and translations are being stored in so-called shadow libraries and used to train AI models without permission.
More than 600 authors, translators and journalists checked Meta’s training dataset after a call in May and responded to the unions’ outreach.
# What happened Authors and journalists gathered outside Facebook Nederland's headquarters on Tuesday to protest the company's alleged use of their writing to train artificial intelligence models. The demonstration was organised by three Dutch rights and trade organisations: Stichting Lira (the writers' rights foundation), the Auteursbond (Dutch Writers' Guild) and the NVJ (the Dutch Association of Journalists).
# Why they protested
# The demands
# Legal steps taken Lira, the Auteursbond and the NVJ sent Meta a formal demand letter on Feb. 27 asking the company to stop using copyrighted Dutch work in its AI training and to stop offering models trained on illegal data sources in Europe. According to the unions, Meta's response did not open the door to negotiations. The protest is tied to a collective lawsuit that the organisations say is currently being prepared.
# Who showed up Several well-known Dutch writers, columnists and journalists publicly backed the campaign or attended the protest. Names mentioned by organisers and local reporting include Sheila Sitalsing, Philip Dröge, Anja Sicking and Emy Koopman.
# What organisers have already done
# Timing and context Organisers scheduled the action just before the start of Children's Book Week, a moment when attention to writers and publishing is higher. The protest also comes amid wider global scrutiny of how tech companies collect and use copyrighted or personal data to build AI systems, and amid other legal and public pushback against major AI firms.
# What happens next The unions have signalled they will pursue the collective legal route against Meta while continuing public pressure. That legal effort will seek remedies tied to unauthorised use of copyrighted texts and demand structural changes to how tech companies source and disclose training data.
# Bottom line Dutch authors and journalists are using coordinated legal and public action to press Meta for compensation, control and transparency over the alleged inclusion of copyrighted Dutch works in AI training datasets. The protest is part of a broader campaign that combines data audits, formal demands and a planned collective lawsuit.
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