DETROIT — Eminem's music publisher has filed suit against multinational tech company Meta, alleging the Detroit rapper's songs are used on Meta's social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram without proper licensing.

In a complaint filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Detroit, Eight Mile Style LLC said Meta has created and stored copies of Eminem's songs on their servers and distributed them to billions of users around the world in violation of copyright law. The publisher said the rapper's songs have been utilized by social media users in millions of videos that have collectively been viewed billions of times.

Through Meta's online tools, users can also "steal" music from another user's posted content to use in their own video, "resulting in exponential infringement," Eight Mile Style alleges in the lawsuit.

The complaint says the tech giant is “actively encouraging” users to stream Eminem's work by making his songs available for user posts on Facebook, Instagram and the WhatsApp messaging service. The apps' algorithms allegedly directly promote the music to users via “For You” and “Trending” features.

The Ferndale-based company had previously brought the issue to Meta's attention, according to the complaint, and Meta responded by removing several of Eminem's songs from its libraries, including his 2001 mega-hit "Lose Yourself." However, it has kept a karaoke version, an instrumental piano version and a cover version of the track available to its users, in addition to other prominent Eminem songs like "Till I Collapse," Eight Mile Style alleges.

"Meta’s years-long and ongoing infringement of the Eight Mile Compositions is another case of a trillion (with a ‘T’) dollar company exploiting the creative efforts of musical artists for the obscene monetary benefit of its executives and shareholders without a license and without regard to the rights of the owners of the intellectual property," the complaint states.

Menlo Park, California-based Meta did not immediately respond Friday to a message seeking comment.

Eight Mile Style is seeking damages including "for the diminished value of the copyrights by (Meta's) theft of them," in addition to Meta's "profits attributable to the infringement." It says the maximum statutory damages would equate to more than $109 million.

The company also seeks an injunction to stop what it characterizes as "Meta's ongoing infringement."

This is the latest of several lawsuits Eight Mile Style has filed over the past several years in a bid to protect the world-famous rapper's library.

In January, the company sued a Metro Detroit car dealership over allegedly unauthorized use of "Lose Yourself" in ads for the Ford F-150. That case was dismissed last month at the company's request.

In 2019, Eight Mile Style accused Spotify of streaming hundreds of Eminem songs billions of times without proper licensure. A Tennesse judge ruled last year that while Spotify did not have a license to stream the songs, it was also not liable for lost royalty payments, Rolling Stone reported.

In 2017, a New Zealand judge ruled that the country's conservative National Party breached copyright by using a rip-off of "Lose Yourself" in campaign ads.

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