Meta drops clause that let it scrape business websites
After backlash, Meta revised its commercial terms again, removing wording that suggested it could take website content to train its AI. A spokesperson said the change did not alter how Meta crawls the web.
By Standard Topic. AI-generated from the reporting listed under Coverage. Published . Updated .
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What happened
Meta's new commercial terms said it could use almost any content from a business's website, including news sites, for purposes such as AI training. After backlash, Meta updated the terms again and removed the language suggesting it could scrape such content. A Meta spokesperson said the updated terms did not reflect a change in how the company crawls the web.
Why it matters
The original wording raised concerns that Meta could take content from businesses and news sites to train its AI. The removal addresses that backlash.
Timeline
- Oct 16, 8:57 PM ET: Meta's new terms for business users said it could use content from business websites in almost any way, including feeding it to its AI.
- Oct 17, 11:04 AM ET: After backlash, Meta removed language suggesting it could scrape content from sites, including news sites, to train its AI.
- Oct 17, 5:31 PM ET: A Meta spokesperson said the updated terms did not reflect a change in the way Meta crawls the web.
Coverage
- Meta removes language that raised scraping and AI training concerns (techcrunch.com)
- Meta removes language that may have allowed it to scrape news sites (Terrence O’Brien)
- Meta to Literally Every Business User: Nice Website You Got There (Tom McKay)
- Meta may use sweeping new commercial TOS to avoid millions in AI licensing fees (arstechnica.com)
- Meta’s new terms may allow it to train AI on news sites for free (theverge.com)
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