Meta pauses new business terms after media groups object to scraping rules

Meta announced on Tuesday that it is postponing the rollout of new terms for its business accounts. The company stated it is listening to feedback and that its existing terms remain in place for now. This decision follows a sharp increase in opposition from media companies and open-web advocates across Europe.

The new rules were originally scheduled to take effect on Oct. 30. They would have authorized Meta to use automated software, including web scrapers and bots, to index, cache, analyze, and collect data from domains associated with business accounts. The terms applied to all business clients regardless of their objection and without payment for the extracted content.

On Oct. 28, a court in Norway granted a temporary injunction suspending the new terms. The request came from 180 Norwegian media companies. Their case was supported by the Norwegian Media Businesses’ Association, whose members account for approximately 97% of Norwegian newspaper circulation. Lene Eltvik Vindfeld, chair of the MBL board, said the court agreed that Meta holds a dominant position and that the new terms are unreasonable.

The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority began its own investigation into the conditions on Oct. 30. The regulator expressed concern that Meta requiring publishers to accept these terms could amount to an unlawful imposition of unfair trading conditions. In the United States, the Association of American Publishers called on Meta to drop the new terms, citing an abuse of dominant market power.

Meta maintains that the update is designed to help the company pull accurate information about products for sale on third-party websites for ad and content recommendations. Spokesman Andy Stone wrote on X on Oct. 16 that the update is not about scraping news sites. Stone noted that regular users on platforms like Instagram and Facebook can already have their public posts scraped to train AI models.

After a report from the Nieman Journalism Lab suggested the terms could allow Meta to scrape content for AI training, the company removed the word “train” from the updated text. Meta spokesman Andy Stone posted on X on Oct. 29 that the company does not plan to make policy changes without full consultation with industry groups. The European Commission confirmed it had discussed the proposed terms with Meta and welcomed the postponement.

The Norwegian MBL said on Tuesday that it was not satisfied with the postponement. CEO Randi S. Øgrey stated that the financial foundations of independent news media are weakened when the new terms are not addressed. She outlined three demands, including that Meta respect publishers’ reservations against scraping and that any use of journalism in AI products requires a separate, voluntary agreement with payment.