New York Times and Daily News sue Brave Software over scraping articles for AI training and resale to AI firms

What happened

A group of newspapers including the New York Times and the New York Daily News sued Brave Software in Manhattan federal court on Monday, November 2, 2026, alleging that Brave scraped their articles for AI training and unlawfully enabled users of its web browser to circumvent their paywalls.

What the complaints allege

According to Reuters' report on the filings, the newspapers say Brave illegally sells their content to AI companies including Anthropic, Perplexity and xAI — none of which are defendants in these cases — in addition to infringing their copyrights by allowing users to access their articles for free. The complaints describe Brave as acting "both like a burglar that misappropriates the content of publishers, and an AI 'fence' that sells stolen content to third parties."

The plaintiffs' position

A New York Times spokesperson is quoted saying Brave "has flouted established copyright law and ignored repeated requests by The Times to stop its infringing conduct," while affirming belief in the ethical and responsible use and development of AI.

Status and limits

These are allegations in newly filed complaints, not court findings. Spokespeople for Brave, Anthropic, Perplexity and xAI did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment, and attorney information for Brave was not yet available. The cases are New York Times Co v. Brave Software Inc, No. 1:26-cv-09549, and Daily News LP v. Brave Software Inc, No. 1:26-cv-09554, both in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.