Meta Pauses New Business Terms After Media Pushback

Meta has postponed the implementation of new terms of service for its business accounts, a move that halts a rule change intended to expand the company's automated data collection capabilities. The delay follows a wave of legal and regulatory challenges from media organizations in Europe who argued the new rules would allow Meta to scrape public content without compensation.

The original terms, scheduled to take effect on October 30, permitted Meta to use bots and scrapers to index, cache, and analyze web pages linked to business accounts. Critics contended that this language would apply to all commercial users, including news publishers, regardless of their objections. They warned the provision could enable Meta to use publisher content to train artificial intelligence models or build competing digital services without paying for the underlying intellectual property.

A temporary injunction granted by a court in Norway on October 28 was a primary factor in the postponement. The ruling was requested by 180 Norwegian media companies and supported by the Norwegian Media Businesses’ Association, which represents newspapers holding approximately 97% of the country's circulation. Lene Eltvik Vindfeld, the association's board chair, stated that the court agreed Meta holds a dominant market position and that the terms were unreasonable.

Regulatory action in the United Kingdom also contributed to the pause. The Competition and Markets Authority announced on October 30 that it was opening an investigation into the new conditions. The agency expressed concern that forcing content businesses to accept the terms could constitute an unlawful imposition of unfair trading conditions. In the United States, the Association of American Publishers called for Meta to abandon the new terms, arguing that the company was abusing its market power by compelling consent from commercial users.

Meta maintains that the update is designed to ensure the accuracy of product information for advertising recommendations, not to scrape news sites. Andy Stone, a Meta spokesman, noted that the company has not changed how it uses web crawlers. However, following a report by the Nieman Journalism Lab that suggested the terms could support AI training, Meta removed the word "train" from the updated language. On October 29, the company confirmed that existing terms remain in place while it consults with industry leaders.

European stakeholders have not yet accepted the postponement as a final resolution. Randi S. Øgrey, CEO of the Norwegian Media Businesses’ Association, said the company's assurances were insufficient. She outlined three demands for Norwegian media: Meta must respect publishers' reservations against scraping, use journalism in AI products only through voluntary paid agreements, and avoid marginalizing publishers who do not sign the new terms. Tim Cowen of the Movement for an Open Web called the delay a win but warned that regulators must act quickly to prevent further anti-competitive behavior.

The European Commission confirmed it had discussed the proposed terms with Meta and welcomed the delay. Spokesperson Sara Simonini stated that the commission is committed to ensuring Meta complies with EU law, which prohibits the abuse of dominant market positions. The EU executive also noted that it has asked unspecified AI model providers to detail their training materials in line with the implementation of the EU AI Act adopted in 2024.