Meta commercial terms would let it scrape business sites for AI
October 20: Meta dropped “train” from the commercial terms after backlash; publisher groups asked regulators to block the October 30 change, and experts said robots.txt remains nonbinding.
Meta’s October 30 commercial terms would let it collect business-linked website content for AI, and publishers want regulators to block them.
Meta plans to change commercial terms on October 30, 2026, so it can collect content from websites tied to business customers and use it to train models and improve products, according to The Register as reported by Security Affairs. Accepting the terms authorizes scrapers, bots, crawlers, and periodic updates. The News/Media Alliance says business accounts cannot opt out short of leaving Meta’s products and calls the change likely illegal; the published contract does not promise that robots.txt will limit crawlers. Ars Technica reported that Meta removed the word “train” after criticism, while experts told Nieman Lab that omitting robots.txt from enforceable terms could still let Meta ignore voluntary scrape blocks. UK, European, and US publisher groups have asked regulators to intervene before October 30.
- Terms take effect October 30, 2026, for advertisers, sellers, developers, and Page managers.
- The Alliance says linked online intellectual property could be collected, with no opt-out.
- At least one million businesses already use Meta AI agents in WhatsApp and Messenger.
- The published contract does not promise that robots.txt will limit Meta’s crawlers.
- Meta removed “train” from the terms but added no binding robots.txt commitment.
- UK, European, and US publisher groups asked regulators to intervene.
Timeline
dated events in the reporting · oldest first- Oct 30, 2026Meta commercial terms are set to take effect · Security Affairs
What each outlet adds
beyond the shared facts- Security AffairsOctober 30 date, no opt-out, and one million businesses using Meta AI agents.
- Ars TechnicaMeta dropped “train”; experts say robots.txt still nonbinding; groups sought regulators.
Coverage
oldest first · one row per article · UTC- · 6d ago
Security AffairsFirst report
Meta commercial terms let it scrape business sites for AI training
The terms take effect October 30, 2026, and the News/Media Alliance says business accounts cannot opt out.
- · 5d ago
Ars Technica · AI
Meta drops “train” from commercial terms after backlash
Publisher groups want regulators to block the terms before October 30.