Photobucket Sued for Licensing Billions of Users’ Images to Train AI

Photobucket has been sued for licensing billions of users’ photos to train AI systems without their consent.

On Wednesday, Photobucket users filed a federal class action lawsuit against image and video hosting website Photobucket in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.

The lawsuit claims that Photobucket has violated privacy and intellectual property laws by training AI systems — including biometric and facial recognition tools and deepfake generators — on more than 13 billion users’ photos without their permission.

In April, PetaPixel reported on how Photobucket was in talks with generative artificial intelligence companies to license its content for the purposes of training algorithms. The company’s CEO Ted Leonard said that he was in talks with “multiple tech companies” to license the website’s 13 billion photos and videos, earmarked for training text-to-image models.

Photobucket is a fallen internet giant: in the early 2000s, it boasted 70 million users with that number dwindling to two million but the rise of generative AI has offered the Colorado-based company a lifeline.

However, the proposed class action lawsuit aims to prevent Photobucket from selling users’ data to train AI without obtaining written consent. It alleges that Photobucket, either intentionally or negligently, violated strict privacy laws in states such as Illinois, New York, and California by asserting that it cannot reliably determine users’ geolocation.

The litigation could protect two distinct groups. The first group includes anyone who uploaded a photo to Photobucket from its founding in 2003 through May 1, 2024. The second, potentially larger group, comprises non-users featured in images uploaded to Photobucket, whose biometric data was allegedly sold without their consent.

Chicago artist Mac Pierce leads the lawsuit alongside three other named plaintiffs and a class of millions of Photobucket users, as well as people appearing in photos uploaded to the website who never opened accounts and have no way to opt out of their images being licensed.

“When it encouraged customers to upload their photos, Photobucket never gave them notice that it might one day appropriate them for biometric data or machine learning,” Pierce said in the 47-page lawsuit.

“Rather, Photobucket told users that it was a cloud storage service for customers who wished to view their photos online, and it repeatedly promised users to respect their rights to their data and intellectual property and to be a responsible steward of the photographs entrusted to it.”

According to Courthouse News, the lawsuit alleges Photobucket attempted to secure permission to train AI with users’ images by sending them “coercive emails” urging them to log into their accounts and agree to updated terms of service, which included provisions for licensing user content. The plaintiffs claim that Photobucket treats nonresponses as implied consent.

The plaintiffs are seeking a court order to block Photobucket’s content licensing scheme as well as demanding damages of up to $5,000 for each intentional violation of their rights.

 
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.