Court permits most of Reddit's case against Anthropic to move forward

Legal Background and Claims

A San Francisco County Superior Court judge has ruled that three of Reddit’s five claims against Anthropic can proceed.

The order, dated September 17 and filed the next day, overruled Anthropic’s demurrer that the allegations, even if true, would not form a valid claim.

Judge Harold Kahn allowed the breach‑of‑contract, interference‑with‑contract, and violation‑of‑California‑unfair‑competition claims to move forward.

He dismissed the unjust‑enrichment and trespass‑to‑chattels claims as too vague, but gave Reddit until October 16 to amend and refile them.

Reddit’s lawsuit, first filed in June 2025, accuses Anthropic of using automated bots to scrape user comments without permission to train its Claude chatbot.

The complaint alleges that Anthropic accessed Reddit’s platform more than 100,000 times even after Reddit’s CEO publicly condemned the practice.

Reddit’s chief legal officer Ben Lee has argued that AI firms should not be allowed to harvest user content without clear usage limits.

In 2024, Reddit secured licensing agreements with Google and OpenAI that it says give it the right to enforce user‑deletion protections.

Anthropic countered that Reddit’s user agreement is an unenforceable “browsewrap” contract because users never click an explicit “I agree.”

Judge Kahn rejected that argument, noting the volume of scraping indicated Anthropic knowingly violated Reddit’s terms.

The judge’s decision means the core contractual and competition allegations will be litigated in the coming months.

Anthropic has not responded to requests for comment on the ruling.

Reddit issued a statement emphasizing the broader significance of the decision for AI data practices.

"This ruling sends a strong message – AI companies don't get a free pass to ignore the law."

"AI companies cannot scrape data without a license in violation of basic contract law, user privacy commitments and fair business practices."

"As we look ahead to the next phase of this lawsuit, Reddit remains committed to holding unauthorized scrapers accountable and to protecting the trust of Reddit users."

Implications for AI Data Practices

Legal analysts note that the breach‑of‑contract claim hinges on whether Reddit’s terms of service constitute a binding agreement.

The unfair‑competition claim could examine whether Anthropic’s use of Reddit data gave it an undue market advantage.

If the refilled unjust‑enrichment claim succeeds, it may require Anthropic to disgorge profits derived from the scraped content.

The trespass‑to‑chattels claim, though dismissed for now, could address the technical strain of massive automated access on Reddit’s servers.

The case arrives as AI developers face increasing scrutiny over data sourcing and user consent.

Recent regulatory moves in the EU and the United States have highlighted the need for clear licensing of online content for AI training.

Reddit’s ability to enforce its licensing deals with Google and OpenAI may set precedents for future agreements.

For Anthropic, a loss on any of the remaining claims could affect the cost structure of training Claude, its flagship large‑language model.

The outcome may also influence how other AI firms approach data collection from public platforms.

Observers will watch how the court addresses the technical evidence of over 100,000 scraping incidents.

The October 16 deadline for amending the dismissed claims adds a procedural timeline to the dispute.

Both parties are likely to file extensive briefs before the next hearing.

The litigation underscores a growing tension between open‑internet data ecosystems and proprietary AI development.

Why This Matters: The ruling signals that AI firms may face enforceable legal limits on scraping public platform data.