Meta Postpones Business Terms Update Amid Data-scraping Fears

WHO:

Engadget - Meta was criticized over a planned change to its business terms that could allow it to scrape business-account content for AI training.

Fast Company - Meta Platforms owns Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp.

Fast Company - The News/Media Alliance, representing more than 2,000 publications, sent an open letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. It was signed by the group’s president and CEO, Danielle Coffey.

Fast Company - Media and intellectual-property attorney Matt Topic said he believed the word “develop” in the terms was broad enough to include “train.”

Fast Company - News publishers and publications that rely on Meta’s platforms for distribution objected to the proposed terms.

WHAT:

Engadget - Meta delayed controversial business terms amid concerns that the change would let it scrape business-account content for AI training.

Fast Company - Meta postponed the effective date of its updated Commercial Terms and Self-Serve Ad Terms by three weeks, from Friday, October 30, to Friday, November 20.

Fast Company - Meta said the delay would allow more time to explain “what’s changing and what’s not,” including its use of web crawlers and content owners’ ability to use robots.txt to indicate preferences.

Fast Company - The updated terms said businesses that did not agree could “stop all access or use of our Products for business or commercial purposes.”

Fast Company - Meta removed the word “train” from an earlier description of how it would use content and limited the stated use to “advertising and business products.”

Fast Company - The News/Media Alliance asked Meta to withdraw the updated terms before they took effect. Its letter said the terms “grant Meta the right to exploit, without prior permission or fair compensation, journalism” and warned that copied content incorporated into Meta products could cause harm “practically impossible to undo.”

WHEN:

Fast Company - Meta announced the commercial-terms update earlier in the month; Nieman Lab reported the update on October 15.

Fast Company - Meta’s removal of “train” occurred two days after the October 15 report.

Fast Company - The News/Media Alliance sent its letter on Thursday, October 22; Meta’s delay came one day later.

Fast Company - The revised effective date is Friday, November 20.

WHY:

Fast Company - Meta said it extended the deadline to give partners and stakeholders more time to understand the changes and its web-crawler practices.

Fast Company - Publishers objected that Meta could use their content to compete with them, with limited ability to use Meta’s services or block ad crawlers.

HOW:

Fast Company - Meta said content owners could signal crawler preferences using robots.txt; the article reported that the updated terms did not explicitly protect that option.

Fast Company - The proposed terms concerned web crawling and scraping content associated with business accounts.

(UPDATED October 24, 2026 10:59 UTC)

Meta has postponed updated business terms after publishers objected that they could allow the company to use business-account content to train AI. The new Commercial Terms and Self-Serve Ad Terms will take effect Friday, November 20, three weeks later than planned. Meta said the delay gives partners more time to understand what is changing, including its web-crawling practices and how content owners can use robots.txt to signal preferences. The News/Media Alliance, which represents more than 2,000 publications, urged CEO Mark Zuckerberg to withdraw the terms. Its letter said they could let Meta exploit journalism without permission or fair compensation, and warned copied material could cause harm that is difficult to undo. Meta removed the word “train” from an earlier description and now says the content use is limited to advertising and business products.