Meta Revises Business Terms After Backlash Over Website…

Meta has revised its commercial terms for business accounts following criticism of a planned update that could have given the company broad permission to collect and analyze website content. Although the revised wording removes an explicit reference to AI training, concerns remain about what Meta can access on websites associated with Facebook and Instagram business accounts.

The changes follow a backlash from publishers and other businesses after Meta introduced new language in its commercial terms last week. The original update was scheduled to take effect on October 30, 2026, and outlined how the company could use automated tools to access websites and their content.

As reported by Nieman Lab, the initial wording authorized Meta to use web scrapers and other automated tools to access, index, cache, analyze, collect, retrieve, or crawl domains, web pages, and URLs associated with business accounts. The terms also stated that Meta could use collected content to "provide, develop, improve, research, train, and maintain the integrity of, the Meta Company Products, services, and features."

The language prompted concerns that the company could use its business terms to justify scraping content from a wide range of websites, including those belonging to digital publishers with Facebook or Instagram business accounts.

Meta Removes AI Training Reference From Business Terms

Following the criticism, Meta quietly revised the wording of its commercial terms. The company removed the word "train" and narrowed the stated purpose of scraping to the development and maintenance of advertising and business products.

The updated language now specifies that automated data collection will support advertising and commercial services, including tools that help businesses create and deliver advertisements, share information about their products, and connect with potential customers.

The revised section of Meta's terms reads:

"You authorize us (or any entity acting on our behalf) to use automated software (such as web scrapers, bots, robots, spiders, crawlers, and user agents) and create test credentials to access, index, cache, analyze, collect, retrieve, or crawl the domains, web pages, or URLs (and any content available through them) that are associated with your products or services, or that are made available through your or users' use of Meta Company Products and services, and to periodically pull updates from such domains, web pages, or URLs in order to provide, develop, improve, research, and maintain advertising and business products (including business, commercial and related products to help you create and deliver ads and other commercial content, provide users information about your products and services, and connect you with users who may be interested in your products and services) and maintain the integrity and security of Meta Company Products."

Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said the company had "clarified" the language to reflect that the terms apply "only to our ads and business products."

Stone also said the changes "were not about scraping news sites" and that Meta was not changing how it uses web crawlers.

Legal Experts Question Meta's Website Scraping Permissions

Despite the revisions, questions remain about the extent of Meta's authority to collect website content under the updated terms.

Nieman Lab reported that the revised language could still represent "a substantial expansion of Meta's scraping permissions." Legal experts who spoke to the publication said the terms appear to leave Meta with relatively few restrictions on scraping news websites.

Stone also said the changes "don't give us new rights to supersede" website owners' robots.txt preferences. These files communicate which parts of a website automated crawlers are permitted to access, but they are not legally binding on their own. AI companies have also been reported to disregard robots.txt instructions.

The revised wording therefore has not fully addressed concerns about how Meta might interpret its permissions or what protections publishers have against automated collection of their content.

Meta's History With News Publishers Adds to Concerns

Meta's latest terms come amid a strained relationship between the company and parts of the news industry.

The company stopped paying for news in 2022 and discontinued its dedicated Facebook News tab in 2024. More recently, Meta has reached agreements with several media outlets to provide news content for its AI chatbot.

These developments have contributed to concerns among publishers about how their content is accessed and used by large technology companies, particularly as AI-powered products become more prominent.

News Industry Groups Condemn Meta's Revised Terms

Media industry representatives have also criticized the company's approach.

Danielle Coffey, CEO of the News/Media Alliance, described the rules in a statement as "outrageous and probably illegal."

Theo Bamber, the top executive of the UK's News Media Association, told Press Gazette that the move was a "shameless landgrab attempt."

Although Meta has removed the explicit reference to AI training and says the revised terms concern advertising and business products, the changes have not ended the dispute. Publishers and legal experts continue to question whether the updated language provides sufficient limits on the company's ability to scrape their websites.

The debate now centers on the scope of Meta's revised permissions and the extent to which website owners can protect their content from automated collection.