Meta removes terms language critics said could override publishers' crawling preferences
After a backlash, Meta deleted wording in its commercial terms that experts read as permission to use content from websites to train AI. The company says its crawling practices have not changed.
Meta has removed language from its commercial terms stating that it may use content from listed domains, web pages or URLs to “provide, develop, improve, research, train” its products, The Verge reports.
Critics, including Cornell law professor James Grimmelmann and Nieman Lab, had read the clause as an attempt to obtain rights to use scraped website content — including news sites — for AI training and to supersede blocking instructions in sites’ robots.txt files.
Meta initially said there was no change to how it uses web crawlers. In its updated statement, the company said the consolidated crawling terms applied only to its ads and business products, that content owners can continue to use robots.txt to signal their preferences, and that the update gives it no new rights that supersede them.
Why it matters
Rights to use content for AI training increasingly sit in platform terms of service rather than in negotiated licences. Organisations that publish content or use business platforms should track terms changes as part of data governance, check what usage rights they grant, and not rely on robots.txt alone to express their preferences.
Sources
Found via Nenad's NL (Nenad Bakić)
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Governance areas
Who should care
- Legal & compliance
- Data owners
- Content and marketing leads