I find it highly implausible that Meta doesn't have the resources to obtain these legally. They could have reached out to a publisher and ask to purchase ebooks in bulk - and if that publisher says no, tough shit. The media ecosystem doesn't exist for Big Tech to extract value from it!
"It would take a lot of effort to do it legally" is a pathetic excuse for a company of Meta's size.
"It would take a lot of effort to do it legally" is a pathetic excuse for a company of Meta's size.