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Meta Removes AI Training Clause from Web‑Crawling Terms
Meta revised its commercial terms after backlash, dropping the right to use scraped content for AI training.
18 Oct 2026 0 reads Compiled with AI
#Meta #AI #Business accounts #Digital publishers #Terms of use
Meta updated its commercial terms to allow the company to use content from websites linked to business accounts for purposes such as providing, developing, and improving its products, with the original wording suggesting the content could also be used to train AI models.
Publishers Protested the Clause
Publishers and rights groups criticized the clause, arguing it would enable Meta to scrape news sites and use copyrighted material for AI training, and called the terms “outrageous” and potentially illegal.
In response, Meta removed the word “train” from the clause, limiting the use to advertising and business products and stating that the clause only applied to its ads and business tools.
Meta also said its web crawlers would not change and would still respect robots.txt, but publishers remain unconvinced because the clause does not explicitly ban training or address robots.txt.
The revised terms take effect on October 30, 2026; businesses will be bound by them by continuing to use Meta’s commercial products.