Meta's updated commercial terms allow it to scrape news sites
What's the story
Meta has updated its commercial terms to allow web scrapers to extract content from websites linked with business accounts on its platforms, NiemanLab reported. The change comes into effect on October 30 and includes news publishers with business accounts. These accounts enable organizations or public figures to manage their presence across Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp from a single platform.
Expert opinions
Potential for Meta to access expensive licensed material
Legal experts who reviewed the updated terms have suggested that they could be interpreted as giving Meta the right to scrape content from news sites for training its AI products.
Matt Topic, a media and intellectual property attorney at Loevy & Loevy, said this provision could give Meta access to material that would otherwise cost millions of dollars in a licensing market.
Company response
Meta's updated terms of service
In a blog post and on the Meta Business Suite, the company clarified that it can use content from associated websites to "train" its products.
The updated terms also state that Meta can use automated software (like web scrapers, bots, crawlers, and user agents) to access and analyze domains or URLs linked with business accounts.
This could give them permission to train AI on any content from these sites.
User concerns
No option for business accounts to opt out
As of now, there is no option for business accounts to opt out of these new terms before October 30.
The update states, "If you do not agree to the updated terms, please stop all access or use of our Products for business or commercial purposes."
This leaves publishers with two options: trust that Meta won't fully enforce these terms or stop using business accounts altogether.
Company position
Instructions provided for blocking Meta's crawlers
Meta has provided instructions on its developer page for blocking its crawlers using robots.txt, a file that directs bots on which parts of a website they can access.
However, legal experts have warned that the new language in the updated terms could give Meta an argument that its commercial terms override other blocking instructions.
The update also says Meta can create "test credentials" to scrape websites linked with business accounts.