Meta Delays New Commercial Terms Indefinitely After Publisher Backlash

What happened

Meta's vice president of communications, Andy Stone, wrote in a social media post on the evening of October 28 that the company had heard publishers' feedback on its ads and business terms update and did not plan to change policy without full consultation with industry groups and leaders; the consultation could extend beyond November 20, in which case implementation of the updated terms would be delayed, with existing terms remaining in place until then. Meta has rejected claims that the new terms would give it an unlimited right to use publishers' content.

The effective date had already been pushed back once: the terms were originally due on October 30, and this column reported the original version on October 17 — the terms would let Meta use crawlers to access websites associated with business customers and use the content for AI training and other purposes, with businesses that disagreed able only to stop using its commercial products. On October 16, Meta revised the text, removing the word “train” and limiting the scope to advertising and business products, but publishers and legal experts said wording such as “develop” still left room.

The opposition moved into regulatory and court proceedings in late October: on October 22, the advertiser and publisher group Movement for an Open Web complained to the European Commission and the UK Competition and Markets Authority and sought interim measures; on October 27, ten Norwegian publishers sued Meta, and on October 28 an Oslo district court issued a temporary halt on the new terms. Angela Mills Wade, executive director of the European Publishers Council, said on October 29 that the delay was welcome, but that existing terms remain in place, leaving publishers uncertain about how Meta interprets its rights to use their content.

Key facts

Original effective date: October 30, 2026; first postponement: November 20; latest status: delayed indefinitely, with no new date.

Disputed clause: it would let Meta use automated software to access domains, web pages and links associated with business customers and use the content to provide, develop, improve, research and maintain Meta products; the original text included the word “train,” which the October 16 revision removed.

Meta's position: the update only consolidates existing terms, aims to keep third-party product information accurate and improve advertising and content recommendations, and site owners can block crawlers with existing settings such as robots.txt.

Regulatory complaints: on October 22, Movement for an Open Web complained to the European Commission and the UK Competition and Markets Authority and sought interim measures; EU and UK antitrust authorities have received complaints about the terms.

Court proceedings: on October 27, ten Norwegian publishers sued; on October 28, an Oslo district court issued a temporary halt.

U.S. politics: Senators Adam Schiff and Marsha Blackburn have called on Meta to withdraw the new terms.