Meta removes language that may have allowed it to scrape news sites

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1. 2h ago

   Meta Removes Terms That Sparked News Scraping and AI Training Concerns

   Meta has removed controversial language from its commercial terms of service that legal experts warned could allow the company to scrape news sites and business customer content for artificial intelligence model training. The updates followed widespread backlash from publishers and industry groups over potential avoidance of licensing fees. Meta stated the terms applied exclusively to ads and business products rather than AI training. Despite dropping the specific word regarding training, the tech giant chose not to add language respecting robots.txt files, leaving ongoing questions about how it will handle publisher content moving forward.

   Why it matters

   The controversy erupted after updates to Meta commercial terms led legal professionals to warn that the social media corporation granted itself rights to harvest data from business customers and news sites. Publishing organizations and industry alliances publicly criticized the changes, noting the implications for intellectual property and potential losses in licensing revenues. Meta operates major platforms including Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, with advertising accounting for the vast majority of its total revenue.

   What is confirmed

   • Meta removed language from its commercial terms of service that raised concerns regarding scraping and artificial intelligence training.
   • Legal experts previously stated that Meta's commercial terms could allow the scraping of news sites.
   • Meta stated that the terms applied only to ads and business products.

   Still unconfirmed

   • Meta may use sweeping new commercial terms of service to avoid millions in artificial intelligence licensing fees.

   What to watch next

   • Further clarification from Meta regarding how it indexes and interacts with publisher sites without robots.txt language.
   • Additional responses from the News/Media Alliance and other publishing coalitions.
   Sources used for this update (13)

   1. www.meta.com — About Meta | Social Technology, VR, AR, and Innovation
   2. www.meta.com — Meta Account: Single Login for All Meta Apps and Devices
   3. en.wikipedia.org — Meta Platforms - Wikipedia
   4. www.theverge.com — Here’s Nintendo’s overview trailer for the Ocarina of Time remake.
   5. Ars Technica — Meta may use sweeping new commercial TOS to avoid millions in AI licensing fees
   6. Nieman Lab — Meta’s new commercial terms will allow the scraping of news sites, legal experts say
   7. Gizmodo — Meta to Literally Every Business User: Nice Website You Got There
   8. The Register — Meta grants itself right to scrape content from business customers for model training
   9. News/Media Alliance — News/Media Alliance Statement on Changes to Meta Commercial Terms of Use
   10. The Verge — Meta removes language that may have allowed it to scrape news sites
   11. TechCrunch — Meta removes language that raised scraping and AI training concerns
   12. arstechnica.com — Meta drops the word “train” from its commercial TOS after AI backlash
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