Last week, a federal District Court judge largely rejected Anthropic’s demurrer to Reddit’s suit accusing it of improperly gathering user content to train its AI model Claude. Reddit, Inc. v. Anthropic PBC, No. 3:25-cv-05643 (N.D. Cal. Sept. 19, 2026).  In the 2025 lawsuit, Reddit accused Anthropic of breach of contract, interference with contract, and unfair competition when it learned that Claude was scraping content, including user data, off Reddit’s platform to help train the model.  Reddit specifically asserted that Anthropic’s scraping violated Reddit’s user agreement, and that Anthropic, unlike Google and OpenAI, did not enter into a licensing agreement with Reddit before using its content.

Anthropic argued that federal copyright law preempted Reddit’s state-law claims and that they were copyright claims in disguise. The judge largely disagreed, holding that the contract, interference, and unfair competition claims each required an extra element beyond unauthorized copying and involved substantial state interests outside the Copyright Act. The judge also held that Reddit adequately alleged intentional interference by claiming that Anthropic continued scraping after being told it lacked permission. Finally, Claude’s own admission that it did not know if Reddit user data scraped for training was deleted was used as evidence that Reddit had sufficiently alleged the interference claim.  Anthropic did score a partial win regarding Reddit’s unjust-enrichment and trespass-to-chattels claims, but the court gave Reddit an opportunity to amend them.

The case is still pending, so the ruling does not decide whether Anthropic is ultimately liable.  Still, it is a useful reminder that well-drafted user agreements, terms of service, and licensing terms may give website operators claims that go beyond copyright law. Companies looking to protect their users’ content and data should clearly address automated scraping, AI-training uses, deletion obligations, and licensing requirements. Clear rules may not stop every scraper, but they can put a company in a much stronger position if a dispute ends up in court. They should also consider reasonable technical controls and consistent enforcement practices.