Mark Zuckerberg Stole My Book (And Yours Too)

Hi! You probably don’t know me. I’m Philip Anthony Smith — just a regular indie author who writes psychological thrillers in a cluttered garage, surrounded by cold coffee, crumpled notes, and the occasional existential crisis.

But you know who does know me? Mark Zuckerberg.

Not personally, of course. I doubt he knows or cares about guys like me — writers who wrestle with plot holes at midnight and spend their mornings wondering if anyone will ever buy the finished book.

But yesterday, I found out he knows me in the worst possible way: he’s taken three of my books without permission and fed them into Meta’s shiny new AI model.

Let me be crystal clear: a man worth over $200 billion is stealing from writers who, in most cases, are just hoping to break even. Writers who are doing the impossible — pulling stories out of thin air and turning them into books — while working day jobs, raising kids, and scraping together spare hours late at night.

And Zuckerberg? He couldn’t even cough up $2.99 on Amazon.

The Screenshots You’ve Been Seeing

You might’ve seen them floating around social media — screenshots of book titles in a soft, cutesy font, set against a pastel-blue background. Maybe you scrolled past them without a second thought. Maybe you thought, Oh, cool, that author’s book is getting exposure.

But the reality behind those screenshots is chilling. Those lists are circulating because authors everywhere are discovering that their work — their hard-earned, painstakingly crafted work — has been stolen and ingested by Meta’s AI. Here is the link: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/03/libgen-meta-openai/682093/

And it’s not just me. It’s not just a handful of unlucky writers. We’re talking about 7.5 million books, vacuumed up without permission, without payment, and without so much as a “Hey, would you mind?”

The Smoking Gun

It gets worse.

In leaked internal Meta chats, when employees discussed licensing books for AI training, one response was:

“This seems unreasonably expensive.”

Let that sink in.

A trillion-dollar company found the idea of fairly compensating authors — the very people whose work fuels their AI — unreasonably expensive.

And then there’s this gem from a Meta director of engineering:

“The problem is that if we license even one book, we can’t lean into fair use.”

Translation: If they admit they need permission for one book, they’ll have to admit they need permission for all of them. And they’d rather not.

So, Let’s Do the Math

A billionaire, who could probably drop three bucks without noticing, decided it was more “cost-effective” to steal from people who sit in coffee shops praying someone will leave a positive review.

I spend weeks — sometimes months — arguing with my own characters in my head. I draft, redraft, scrap entire chapters, and then redraft again. I pay editors. I design covers. I publish. I market. I hustle. And now? My work is being used to build an AI that will churn out content and make billions for a company that didn’t even ask first.

It’s not just insulting — it’s absurd.

Why This Matters (Even If You’re Not an Author)

If you’re a reader, this matters. The books you love? The ones that kept you up until 3 a.m. because you had to know how it ended? They exist because authors sweat over every word. Those stories don’t just appear out of nowhere. They take time, effort, creativity, and, yes, money.

When companies like Meta decide that work is free for the taking, they’re sending a clear message: creativity doesn’t matter. Original ideas don’t matter. What matters is how quickly they can monetize someone else’s work.

But what happens when authors stop writing? When the stories dry up because no one can afford to spend the time creating something only to have it stolen?

We all lose.

What I’m Doing About It

So here’s what I’m doing: I sent Mark Zuckerberg an invoice.

For $2.99 per book.

If he wants my work, he can pay for it like everyone else.

It’s not about the money (though, let’s be honest, every indie author could use the money). It’s about the principle. It’s about saying no to the idea that creative labor is worthless.

What You Can Do

If you’re an author — whether you’ve written one book or twenty — here’s what I’m asking you to do:

1️⃣ Check if your books are on the Libgen list.
Libgen is where many of these books are being scraped from. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/03/search-libgen-data-set/682094/

2️⃣ Download my invoice template.
I’ve made it easy.

3️⃣ Email your invoice to Meta’s finance department.
Flood their inbox. Let’s see how many of us they can ignore. AR@meta.com

This Isn’t Just About Writers

If you’re a creator in any field — an artist, musician, photographer, or filmmaker — this is your fight too. Because if Meta gets away with this, you can bet others will follow. AI models are already scraping images, music, and videos without permission.

We need to stand up and say, enough.

Can Meta Afford to Pay Us?

Let’s not kid ourselves. Meta is worth $1.25 trillion.

They could pay every single author on that list a fair licensing fee and still have enough money left over to buy a small country.

So, the question isn’t can they pay. The question is will they — or will they keep relying on us to stay silent?

My Promise

I won’t stay silent. I’m sending the invoice. I’m calling this out. And I’ll keep calling it out until someone listens.

If you’re an author, I hope you’ll join me.
If you’re a reader, I hope you’ll support the authors you love.

And if you’re Mark Zuckerberg?
Check your inbox.