Meta Updates Commercial Terms: From October 30 It May Scrape Business Customers' Websites to Train AI, With No Opt-Out

What happened

Meta has updated its Commercial Terms, with the new version taking effect on October 30, replacing the version in force since March 6, 2024, Nieman Lab reported in an October 15 investigation, followed by The Verge. Section 1 authorizes Meta (or entities acting on its behalf) to use automated software — including scrapers, bots and spiders — and to create "test credentials" to access, index and crawl domains, web pages and URLs "associated with" a business's products or services, and to periodically pull updates.

The key sentence follows: Meta "may use any content from such domains, web pages, or URLs to provide, develop, improve, research, train, and maintain the integrity of, the Meta Company Products" — a list that includes its AI services. Compared with the old terms in force since May 2024, the new language drops the "in connection with an advert" limitation and adds the word "train," expanding coverage from ad creatives to a business's associated websites.

The update notice is blunt: businesses that do not agree "may stop all access or use of Meta's Products for business or commercial purposes" — there is no separate opt-out switch. The terms cover anyone running ads, managing a Facebook Page or using Meta Business Suite — nearly every news publisher, which is why the backlash from media lawyers has been the fiercest.

Meta calls it a consolidation: spokesperson Daniel Roberts told The Verge the company is simply bringing crawling language spread across several sets of terms into one place, and that it will not change how it crawls publishers' sites; Meta told Nieman Lab that content owners can still manage crawling via robots.txt. Lawyers counter that the terms never mention robots.txt, so Meta could argue the contract overrides a site's blocking instructions; Meta did not say whether "test credentials" would be used to get past registration or paywalls.

“For news publishers, this clearly represents permission to Meta to train AI on any content from their sites and possibly to deploy some of that content, even in competition with the publishers themselves.”

— James Grimmelmann, professor of digital and information law at Cornell Law School (interviewed by Nieman Lab)

Key facts

1. Effective October 30: The new Commercial Terms take effect October 30, replacing the March 2024 version, covering commercial use of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger
2. Crawlers plus test credentials: Authorizes Meta to use automated software and create test credentials to crawl domains, pages and content "associated with" a business's products or services
3. Content may train AI: "Any content" crawled may be used to provide, develop, improve, research and train Meta Company Products, a list that includes AI services
4. No opt-out: Businesses that disagree can only stop using Meta's commercial products; the terms cover advertisers, Page managers and Business Suite users — nearly every news publisher
5. Old terms were narrower: Terms in force since May 2024 only allowed crawling URLs "in connection with an advert" for ads; the new version drops the ad limitation and adds "train"
6. Legal dispute: Three legal scholars told Nieman Lab the clause could be deemed enforceable, constitutes a training license, and resembles "tying"; Meta says it is only consolidating terms without changing crawling