>But the latest lawsuit alleges that Meta and Zuckerberg deliberately circumvented copyright-protection mechanisms — and had considered paying to license the works before abandoning that strategy at “Zuckerberg’s personal instruction.” The suit essentially argues that the conduct described falls outside protections afforded by fair-use provisions of the U.S. copyright code.
He made the call and there has been some case law since. CEOs often make calls in areas that aren't legally clear (see the oracle v google case regarding java for a good one if you are an engineer). The case gets decided after the fact and the law becomes clear, but it wasn't at the time the decision was made. It's how the world works.
