Meta’s revised terms could still allow AI training on news sites, legal experts say
Meta’s AI could still scrape news sites, legal experts say
- Who
- Meta
- What
- revised business terms governing use of content from websites associated with business accounts
- Quote
Following fierce backlash from the publishing industry, Meta removed language saying it would “train” its products with scraped content.
What happened
Meta removed language about training its products on scraped content from business terms taking effect October 30th, but legal experts told Nieman Lab that broader permissions could still cover AI training. Attorney Matt Topic said permission to “develop” business products could encompass training. Meta spokesperson Daniel Roberts told The Verge that the updates do not grant new rights overriding content owners’ preferences expressed through robots.txt.
Read next
See the full storyMeta Revises Business Terms After Publisher Backlash, Says Further Delay Is PossibleThe story so far
Meta revised and postponed its proposed business terms after publishers challenged their implications for AI scraping, and now says implementation could slip beyond November 20 while consultations continue. Meta communications head Andy Stone said existing terms will remain in place until the update takes effect. The company had already moved the start date from October 30 to November 20. The dispute concerns permissions to use content from websites associated with business accounts promoting content across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger. The Verge initially reported that Meta had removed the controversial language entirely; Ars Technica described the revision as dropping the word “train.” Legal experts told Nieman Lab that the remaining wording could still authorize AI training: attorney Matt Topic said permission to “develop” business products could encompass training. Other experts said the absence of an explicit commitment to respect robots.txt could leave room for scraping despite website owners’ blocking instructions. Meta spokesperson Daniel Roberts said the update applies only to ads and business products, leaves crawling practices unchanged, and grants no new rights to override owners’ preferences expressed through robots.txt. Publishing groups in the UK, Europe, and the US have urged regulatory intervention, with the News/Media Alliance calling for the terms to be blocked.
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