Meta postpones new business account terms following scraping concerns

Meta has announced it is postponing the rollout of new terms for its business accounts following opposition from media companies and open-web advocates. The updated rules, which were originally scheduled to take effect on Oct. 30, would have authorized Meta to use automated software, such as bots and web scrapers, to "index, cache, analyze, collect, retrieve, or crawl the domains, web pages, or URLs" associated with a business account.

Regulatory and legal challenges in Europe

Opposition to the terms has intensified in Europe. On Oct. 28, a court in Norway granted a temporary injunction suspending the new terms at the request of 180 Norwegian media companies. This legal action was supported by the Norwegian Media Businesses’ Association (MBL), whose members represent approximately 97% of Norwegian newspaper circulation. "We are satisfied that the court has agreed with us that Meta holds a dominant position in the relevant market and that the new terms are unreasonable," said Lene Eltvik Vindfeld, MBL chair of the board.

In the United Kingdom, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) stated on Oct. 30 that it is starting an investigation into the conditions. "The CMA is concerned that Meta requiring news publishers and other content businesses to accept these terms could amount to an unlawful imposition of unfair trading conditions," the organization said.

Concerns over AI and content usage

Critics and media organizations have expressed concern that the terms would allow Meta to scrape content without payment to build competing services, such as AI products. A report by the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University stated that, as written, "the new terms could be used to argue that Meta can scrape content from news sites and use that content to train the company’s AI products."

Meta has denied that the update is intended to scrape news sites. "This update is designed to make sure we’re able to pull accurate information about products for sale on third-party websites when making on-platform ad and content recommendations, not about scraping news sites," wrote Meta spokesman Andy Stone on X on Oct. 16.

In the United States, the Association of American Publishers (AAP) called for Meta to drop the terms. "In putting forth these onerous terms of service, Meta is implicitly acknowledging that permission is required for them to use creative works to develop and improve their products," said Maria A. Pallante, AAP president and CEO. "But at the same time this mega-corporation is abusing its dominant market power by compelling such consent from any commercial user who connects to any of their platforms."

Current status of the terms

On Oct. 29, Meta stated it was listening to feedback and that its existing terms will remain in place for now. "We care deeply about our partners and do not plan to make policy changes without a full consultation with industry groups and leaders," Stone posted on X.

While the new terms for business accounts are delayed, Meta noted that regular users of Instagram and Facebook can already have their public posts scraped to train AI models.

Why it matters

Media organizations have raised concerns regarding the financial stability of journalism. Randi S. Øgrey, CEO of the Norwegian MBL, stated, "When the financial foundations of independent news media are weakened, media diversity and the democratic public sphere are at stake."

The European Commission confirmed it has discussed the proposed terms with Meta and welcomed the postponement. Spokesperson Sara Simonini stated the commission is committed to ensuring Meta's practices comply with EU law, which prohibits the abuse of a dominant market position.

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Sources

• apnews.com: Meta delays new business terms after legal challenges over data collection | AP News
• abcnews.com: Meta delays new business terms after outcry over potential web scraping of news sites - ABC News
• goodreturns.in: Meta postpones business account terms after Europe raises web scraping concerns - Goodreturns

This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.