Meta must face a direct copyright-infringement claim over Eminem’s music after a federal judge narrowed a lawsuit accusing it of hosting the songs without a license on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Eight Mile Style, the publisher that co-owns Eminem’s catalog, sued in May 2025 over 243 compositions, seeking up to $109M in damages, but Judge Brandy McMillion dismissed three of its four claims and let only the direct-infringement count proceed. The judge found it plausible that Meta made unauthorized reproductions by storing the compositions in its music libraries without permission, while tossing the inducement, contributory, and vicarious claims. Several of those dismissals leaned on the Supreme Court’s March 2026 Cox v. Sony ruling on platform liability for users’ piracy, and Meta must answer the surviving claim by July 7.
