Meta pulls AI scraping clause after backlash
Original: Meta removes language that raised scraping and AI training concerns
Why This Matters
Publishers and rights holders are watching AI training data sourcing extremely closely.
Meta removed a commercial terms provision that legal experts warned could let it scrape any publisher's website linked to a Meta business account for AI training, after public outcry in October 2026.
Meta quietly updated its commercial terms of use to include language allowing it to 'use any content from [a business account's] domains, web pages, or URLs to provide, develop, improve, research, train, and maintain the integrity of' its products. Legal experts speaking to Nieman Lab called it a 'remarkable provision' that could let Meta scrape any publisher's site connected to a Meta business account and feed that content into AI model training.
Meta initially defended the change, with a spokesperson saying it didn't represent any shift in how the company actually crawls the web. But after The Verge reported on the clause, the language was removed. In a statement, Meta said: 'We've heard you and want to clarify: the crawling terms we consolidated only applied to our ads and business products, and we've clarified that in the terms themselves. It does not change how Meta uses web crawlers.'
The episode arrives while Meta continues to face active copyright litigation from multiple parties, even after defeating one high-profile AI training lawsuit last year.