FTC opens investigation into AI book destruction in 2026?
Market intelligence
Polymarket currently prices this at 23%.
About this market
This market will resolve to "Yes" if the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) publicly announces or confirms that it has opened an investigation, issued orders under Section 6(b) of the FTC Act, or filed an enforcement action concerning the acquisition, scanning, or destruction of print books by AI companies for use in training AI models (the "book destruction practice"), between market creation and December 31, 2026, 11:59 PM ET. Otherwise, this market will resolve to "No". On August 21, 2026, a coalition of 18 civil society groups, including Demand Progress Education Fund, the Consumer Federation of America, and the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, asked the FTC to investigate whether the bulk purchase, destructive scanning, and disposal of print books by AI companies (the practice described in the copyright litigation Bartz v. Anthropic) constitutes an unfair method of competition under Section 5 of the FTC Act, including through the FTC's Section 6(b) study authority. An AI company means any company that develops, trains, or operates AI models, and includes a contractor or vendor that acquires, scans, or disposes of print books on such a company's behalf. An investigation into any one of the steps of the book destruction practice (the bulk acquisition of print books, their destructive scanning, or the disposal of the books) qualifies, provided it concerns print books acquired or processed by AI companies for use in training AI models. A qualifying act is a public, on-the-record act of the FTC confirming an investigation into the book destruction practice, namely one of the following: an official FTC press release, or an official statement published by the FTC on ftc.gov or through the FTC's official accounts; an order issued under Section 6(b) of the FTC Act to one or more AI companies, publicly announced or published by the FTC, that concerns their acquisition, scanning, or destruction of print books; an administrative complaint or federal court compl