Meta Removes Website Scraping and AI Training Terms After Criticism

Meta has removed controversial clauses from its commercial terms that critics argued would permit the scraping of website content linked to business accounts and its use for training artificial intelligence models. The change follows widespread criticism from legal experts and news publishers, who warned the terms could grant the company broad access to website content without separate licensing agreements.

The original terms stated Meta could use "any content from such domains, web pages, or URLs to provide, develop, improve, research, train, and maintain" its products. Following backlash, Meta revised the terms, limiting permitted uses to advertising and business products and removing the word "train." Subsequently, the company removed the disputed provision entirely.

The terms, initially set to take effect in late October, raised concerns that Meta could scrape entire websites, including those of news publishers, without explicit consent or an opt-out mechanism. Legal experts also questioned the effectiveness of robots.txt files in preventing data collection, noting that they are considered "preferences" rather than legally binding restrictions.

The changes prompted opposition from publisher groups in Europe and the US, who considered regulatory scrutiny and government intervention. The dispute is part of a broader debate surrounding technology companies' use of copyrighted material for AI training without licensing, an area where Meta has previously faced legal challenges.