Hobbs v. Meta filed, first Take It Down Act prosecutions, and the Bar Standards Board's AI framework for barristers
Welcome to the 8th edition of ICYMI — your weekly briefing on the developments shaping the AI legal and regulatory landscape, curated from Thelonious.
Here’s a snapshot of what’s inside this week:
- Hobbs vs. Meta — Filed on 22 May 2026, plaintiffs Jeff Hobbs and Alfred Douglas Stone filed a class action complaint against Meta Platforms, Inc., Mark Zuckerberg, and other executives in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The lawsuit alleges that Meta committed widespread copyright infringement by unlawfully downloading millions of copyrighted works from pirate websites to train its Llama AI models.The training data question — and who bears liability for how it was sourced — just got significantly more serious.
- US vs. Hernandez — The U.S. government alleges that Arturo Hernandez created and published numerous albums of AI-generated deepfake pornography making it the first criminal prosecution under the TAKE IT DOWN Act, which prohibits the nonconsensual publication of AI-generated deepfake pornography.
- US vs. Shannon — The U.S. government alleges that Cornelius Shannon violated the newly enacted TAKE IT DOWN Act by creating and publishing hundreds of albums of AI-generated deepfake pornography. The content, depicting approximately 90 victims including celebrities and public figures, was posted on an adult content platform and viewed millions of times.
- Bar Standards Board Launches Safe AI Framework — The UK Bar Standards Board issued guidance for barristers on using AI, explaining how existing professional duties in the BSB Handbook apply. It provides principles for risk evaluation, maintaining AI awareness, ensuring data governance, and upholding client confidentiality.
- Commission Opens Feedback on High-Risk AI Draft — The European Commission has released draft guidelines to help AI providers and deployers determine if their systems are “high-risk” under the AI Act. These guidelines aim to clarify the criteria for systems that may endanger health, safety, or fundamental rights.