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Meta revises commercial terms following scraping and AI training backlash
Meta has revised its updated commercial terms following intense backlash from news publishers and legal experts regarding web scraping practices. The controversy centered on a clause in the new terms, scheduled to take effect on October 30, 2026, which suggested the company could use content from domains and URLs associated with business accounts to train its artificial intelligence models.
Critics, including the European Publishers Council, argued that the broad language could allow Meta to scrape entire news websites simply because a user shared a link or a business maintained a profile on Facebook or Instagram. The European Publishers Council has urged the European Commission to intervene, stating that such terms act as a blanket license to exploit journalism without consent or compensation.
In response to the outcry, Meta removed the specific word “train” from the updated terms. The company clarified that its web crawling provisions are intended solely to support its advertising and business products, such as improving ad delivery and connecting businesses with users. Meta maintains that these changes do not alter its existing crawling practices and that website owners can still use robots.txt files to manage automated access.
Entities
Andy Stone · Angela Mills Wade · European Commission · European Publishers Council · Facebook · Instagram · James Grimmelmann · Meta · Meta Platforms · Nieman Lab · WhatsApp
Claims
What the coverage asserts, and how many sources carry each claim.
- [● 14 SOURCES] Meta's updated commercial terms included a clause allowing the use of content from business-linked domains to train AI products. innovations.fr · www.papergeek.fr · www.decisionmarketing.co.uk · kulturegeek.fr · ppc.land · +9 more
- [● 6 SOURCES] Meta maintains that its web crawling provisions apply only to its advertising and business products. kulturegeek.fr · www.teknoblog.com · webrazzi.com · japan.zdnet.com · gigazine.net · +1 more
- [● 2 SOURCES] Businesses that do not agree to the updated terms may stop using Meta's products for commercial purposes. mumbrella.com.au · dev.to
- [○ 1 SOURCE] The European Publishers Council urged the European Commission to intervene against Meta's scraping practices. www.decisionmarketing.co.uk
- [● 9 SOURCES] Meta removed the specific 'train' wording from its commercial terms following backlash from publishers and legal experts. innovations.fr · kulturegeek.fr · ppc.land · www.teknoblog.com · webrazzi.com · +4 more
- [DISPUTED] The updated commercial terms are scheduled to take effect on October 30, 2026. www.decisionmarketing.co.uk · ppc.land · mumbrella.com.au · www.teknoblog.com · webrazzi.com · +4 more