Meta’s new commercial terms could grant broad AI training permissions over linked websites
Meta may use sweeping new commercial TOS to avoid millions in AI licensing fees
- Who
- Meta
- What
- updates its commercial terms to authorize crawling and use of content from websites associated with business accounts
- Quote
Meta announced the update in a blog , where the company claimed it was simply “streamlining” its commercial terms.
What happened
Meta’s updated commercial terms, effective October 30, authorize crawling linked business website content and using it to train and improve its products, raising legal experts’ concerns about AI licensing rights. Ars found broader permissions than in existing advertising terms, including provisions for test credentials. Meta says its crawler practices are unchanged and content owners can still block access through robots.txt; experts say whether courts would enforce the terms is unclear.
Reported by 2 sources
The story so far
Meta has updated its commercial terms, effective October 30, to authorize crawling and use of content from websites associated with business accounts, prompting a dispute over whether the permissions extend to AI training on publishers’ sites. The terms cover businesses promoting content across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger and say Meta can use associated website content to “develop, improve, research,” and “train” its AI products. Businesses cannot opt out of the terms while continuing commercial use of Meta’s services; the terms direct those that disagree to stop that use. Legal experts cited in the reporting said the language could let Meta argue that contractual permission overrides website blocking instructions such as robots.txt, though whether courts would enforce that interpretation is unclear. Ars Technica found that the update grants broader permissions than Meta’s existing advertising terms. Meta disputes the broad AI-training interpretation, saying the update concerns product information for advertising and content recommendations, its crawler practices are unchanged, and content owners can still block crawling through robots.txt.
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