Japanese media giants Nikkei and Asahi Shimbun have filed a lawsuit against Perplexity AI, which is backed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Nvidia Corporation NVDA. They accused the AI search startup of copying and storing their content without permission.
Nikkei And Asahi Seek $30 Million In Damages
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Tokyo, alleges that Perplexity scraped and retained articles from both outlets’ servers despite technical measures meant to block such activity, reported the Financial Times.
The publishers claim Perplexity’s platform has attributed inaccurate information to their reporting, damaging their credibility and undermining journalism’s value.
“Perplexity’s actions amount to large-scale, ongoing ‘free riding’ on article content that journalists have spent immense time and effort to research and write,” Nikkei said in a statement.
The two companies are demanding ¥2.2 billion ($15 million) each in damages and are asking Perplexity to delete all copies of their content from its systems, the report said.
Perplexity did not immediately respond to Benzinga’s request for comments.
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Rising Legal Pressure On AI Startups
The suit adds Japan to a growing list of countries where news organizations are challenging AI firms over content use.
The Yomiuri Shimbun filed a similar complaint earlier this year, while outlets like the New York Times, BBC and Condé Nast have issued cease-and-desist letters to AI companies.
In the U.S., Dow Jones and the New York Post are suing Perplexity, alleging it redirects readers away from their sites.
Perplexity has also introduced revenue-sharing deals with publishers such as Time, Fortune and Der Spiegel to compensate them when their content is cited, the report noted.
Perplexity’s Explosive Growth And Big Ambitions
Perplexity has surged to over 30 million users and grown annual recurring revenue from $35 million in mid-2024 to $150 million in 2025.
The company earlier this month made headlines with a $34.5 billion cash bid for Alphabet Inc.’s GOOG GOOGL Google Chrome, one of the world’s most widely used browsers.
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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