Robby Starbuck Takes Meta to Task: The AI Defamation Saga
Meta is being taken to court by Robby Starbuck, alleging that their AI chatbot has slandered him.
Conservative activist and "The Robby Starbuck Show" host, Robby Starbuck, has launched a lawsuit against Meta, accusing the social media behemoth’s AI chatbot of defaming him. The suit alleges that the chatbot spread damaging falsehoods about Starbuck, branding him as a "white nationalist" associated with the January 6 riot and QAnon.
Starbuck also claims the AI recommended that his children be taken from him, thereby tarnishing his reputation.
"Absolutely flabbergasted that Meta AI has conjured up such baseless and hurtful smears about me," the suit, filed on April 30, 2025, in Delaware Superior Court, asserts[1].
The controversy stems from Meta launching its AI chatbot, backed by the Llama AI model, in September 2023[2]. Starbuck's legal team first discovered the issue on August 5, 2024, after a Meta user posted a screenshot of the chatbot's distorted portrayals of the activist's record[1].
In addition to the January 6 riot and QAnon accusations, Starbuck’s lawsuit claims the chatbot spread misinformation about a previous defamation lawsuit against him.
Upon discovering the false allegations, Starbuck reached out to Meta's top executives on August 5, 2024, urging them to correct the matter and issued a formal cease-and-desist letter. Starbuck's lawyers received an email on August 8, 2024, confirming that Meta was investigating the issue[1].
However, on August 23, 2024, Meta's counsel, Michelle Visser, informed Starbuck's legal team that they had taken necessary steps to prevent the chatbot from making false statements about him[1]. Starbuck, however, maintains that the defamation continues to this day.
In response to Starbuck's lawsuit, Meta’s Chief Global Affairs Officer, Joel Kaplan, acknowledged the issue, stating, "This is not how our AI should operate. We're sorry for the results it shared about you, and we regret the fix we implemented didn’t rectify the problem entirely."[3]
Meta spokesperson added in a statement to Fox News Digital, “As part of our continuous effort to improve our models, we have already released updates and will continue to do so.”[3]
[1] - https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/robbystarbuck-sues-meta-accusing-ai-defamed-84577480[2] - https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/12/meta-launches-chatbot-running-on-its-llama-ai-model-to-compete-with-chatgpt.html[3] - https://www.foxnews.com/tech/robbystarbuck-sues-meta-chatbot-qanon-january6
- Inevitably, the setting of the lawsuit filed in 2025, by Robby Starbuck, against Meta, involves claims of defamation regarding damaging falsehoods about him posted by the AI chatbot in 2023.
- The alleged defamation includes the chatbot branding Starbuck as a white nationalist associated with January 6 riot and QAnon, in addition to spreading misinformation about a previous defamation lawsuit against him.
- Political discourse and the general news sphere were shaken when starbuck's legal team found the chatbot's distorted portrayals of Starbuck in August 2024, leading to a call for correction from Starbuck to Meta's top executives.
- Despite Meta's acknowledgment of the issue and efforts to rectify it, Starbuck maintains that the defamation continues to this day, over a year since the initial discovery.
