Meta’s revised business terms could still allow AI scraping of news sites, legal experts say
Meta has changed its new terms for business accounts after criticism from the publishing industry, but legal experts say the changes do not settle the worry that the company could use scraped news content for AI.
The original terms, which go into effect October 30th, said Meta “may use any content” from the websites associated with a business account to “develop, research” and “train” Meta’s products. At the time, legal experts told Nieman Lab that this could let Meta “to argue its commercial terms supersede other blocking instructions,” such as the robots.txt file, which has historically told scrapers, including search engines like Google, what they are allowed to crawl.
Following fierce backlash from the publishing industry, Meta removed the language saying it would “train” its products with scraped content. The Verge reports that the tweaks might not be enough to rule out that possibility, and the lawyers quoted by Nieman Lab agree.
James Grimmelmann, a professor of digital and information law at Cornell Law School, said the revision “does nothing to restrict the ‘associated with your products or services’ [language] that would let Meta scrape entire sites.” Matt Topic, a media and intellectual property attorney at Loevy & Loevy, pointed to a different phrase. In his reading, the revised version “still allows Meta to use that scraped content to develop any ‘business product.’ That doesn’t seem to be a defined term, and presumably Meta is developing AI business products. I think ‘develop’ is broad enough to include ‘train.’”
Meta has maintained that its new terms are not designed to scrape news content for free. In a statement to The Verge, Meta spokesperson Daniel Roberts repeated that “content owners can use robots.txt to signal their preferences.” He added that the update “is not about scraping news sites, and these updates don’t give us new rights that supersede those preferences.”
Key facts
- Meta’s new business-account terms take effect October 30th; the original text said Meta “may use any content” from sites tied to a business account to “develop, research” and “train” its products.
- After backlash from the publishing industry, Meta removed the language about “training” its products with scraped content.
- Cornell Law’s James Grimmelmann says the revision does nothing to restrict the “associated with your products or services” language that would let Meta scrape entire sites.
- Loevy & Loevy attorney Matt Topic says “develop” any “business product” is broad enough to include “train,” and that “business product” does not seem to be a defined term.
- Meta spokesperson Daniel Roberts says content owners can use robots.txt to signal preferences and that the update gives Meta no new rights that supersede them.
Why it matters
Robots.txt is the long-standing way sites tell scrapers what they may crawl. The original terms led legal experts to say Meta could argue its commercial terms override such blocking instructions. The revision drops the word “train,” but the experts quoted say broader wording remains, so the question of AI use of news content is not closed by the edit.
Who it affects
Primarily the news publishers and other site owners whose websites are associated with a business account on Meta’s platforms, and who object to their content being used for AI. The Verge notes that it is itself a news site of the kind the original language seemed to cover. No specific publishers or industry groups behind the backlash are named in the source.
How to use it
The practical guidance in the source comes from Meta: its spokesperson says content owners can use robots.txt to signal their preferences. The terms go into effect October 30th. The source gives no other steps for site owners.
How solid is it
The reporting rests on a statement from Meta, plus two named legal experts speaking to Nieman Lab and relayed by The Verge. Their views are interpretations of contract wording, not findings about what Meta does. The source does not say Meta has actually scraped or trained on any news site’s content, and it does not quote the full text of the revised terms.
Risks and caveats
Meta and the lawyers read the same terms differently: Meta says the update is not about scraping news sites and gives it no new rights over robots.txt preferences, while Grimmelmann and Topic say the remaining wording could still cover scraping and AI development. Topic’s reading depends on “develop” including “train” and on “business product” being undefined. No lawsuit or regulatory action is mentioned in the source.
“This does nothing to restrict the ‘associated with your products or services’ [language] that would let Meta scrape entire sites”
— James Grimmelmann, professor of digital and information law at Cornell Law School, to Nieman Lab