Meta Platforms Inc., previously Facebook, issued a statement on Tuesday apologizing to filmmaker and former congressional candidate Robby Starbuck after he sued the company for defamation over statements its AI generated that tied Starbuck criminally to J6. However, Starbuck said in a post on Thursday that the apology wasn’t enough.
In his complaint, which was filed on Tuesday, Starbuck said Meta AI claimed that he was charged with a crime from J6 after entering the U.S. Capitol and filming video — but Starbuck was not at J6. Starbuck’s complaint contained numerous statements from Meta AI that he said were also false, including that he is a Holocaust denier, white nationalist, and suggested that his children be removed from him and placed with someone who doesn’t object to transgender children and DEI.
Today I’m announcing a major multi-million dollar defamation lawsuit against @Meta, the owner of @Facebook & @Instagram.
The case is WILD and has implications for ALL OF US. On top of falsely calling me a criminal, Meta suggested my kids be taken from me.
Here’s a summary of… pic.twitter.com/Pu8gTQpPq0
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) April 29, 2025
Joel Kaplan, Meta’s Chief Global Affairs Officer, posted an apology from the company on X. “Robby – I watched your video – this is unacceptable,” he said. “This is clearly not how our AI should operate. We’re sorry for the results it shared about you and that the fix we put in place didn’t address the underlying problem. I’m working now with our product team to understand how this happened and explore potential solutions.”
Starbuck responded on Thursday, demanding damages. “I appreciate the apology but it’s been 9 months of this,” he posted on X. “In that time my kids have been doxxed, my family has been subjected to increasing death threats, I’ve been smeared as a criminal, a man was arrested over wanting to kill me and people have come up to me believing Meta’s lies. If you really want to fix this, talk to my lawyer Krista Baughman about a proper way to repair the damage done.”
Represented by Dhillon Law Group, the 67-page lawsuit said Starbuck lost business opportunities. He was denied homeowners’ and car insurance by multiple companies with no explanation. Starbuck demanded a public apology and damages of $5 million.
He said in the complaint that he notified Meta about the statements last August. His attorneys sent Meta a cease and desist letter that month, demanding “that Meta issue a public apology; ensure the false information was removed from Meta AI; conduct an internal investigation and explain to the public what went wrong and how it had been fixed; and make a good faith offer of restitution to Mr. Starbuck for the injury caused.” Meta responded and said it was investigating.
Meta’s attorney said other AI programs also provided incorrect information about Starbuck, but Starbuck queried other major AI programs including Grok and ChatGTP and did not find the erroneous information. Ultimately, Meta’s attorney said the company had “taken appropriate action and considered the matter closed.”
Starbuck said Meta’s solution was to “wipe him from existence on its website.” Any query about him resulted in the response, “Sorry, I can’t help you with this request right now.”
However, nine months later, in April, defamatory content started appearing again.
Starbuck’s list of defamatory information included Meta asserting that he “has been linked to the QAnon conspiracy theory.” Starbuck said he has only posted critically regarding the legitimacy of QAnon. He is “Latino of mixed genetic background,” the son of a Cuban refugee. Meta AI said he was a Nick Fuentes supporter and spoke at one of his rallies. However, Starbuck said he doesn’t even know Fuentes and Fuentes blocked him on X after he criticized him. Meta AI warned users not to associate with Starbuck, hire him, or advertise on his radio show. Meta AI also said he was a defendant in a defamation lawsuit, which Starbuck said was false.
Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) chimed in after Starbuck announced his lawsuit, urging X users to watch Starbuck’s video announcing the lawsuit. “Please watch this video, which describes in detail the ruthless and elaborate defamation campaign waged by Meta AI against @robbystarbuck,” he said. “I look forward to hearing Meta’s side of this—but from what I’m seeing, it doesn’t look good for Meta. In fact, it looks very, very bad. Unless there’s something I’m missing, this will cost Meta a sum of money that most of us would describe as staggering—with good reason.”
Querying Meta AI about Starbuck now results in correct information stating that he was not at J6.
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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter / X. Email tips to [email protected].
Image “Robby Starbuck” by Robby Starbuck.
