GoKawiilMeta edits business-account terms but scraping scope remains broad, lawyers say
Meta revised upcoming terms of service for business accounts, removing the word 'train' and narrowing listed uses to 'advertising and business products.' The change followed a Nieman Lab report that the terms would let Meta broadly scrape websites linked to business accounts, potentially to train AI models; the new terms take effect October 30 with no opt-out option.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
Legal experts such as attorney Matt Topic argue the undefined term 'business product' could still cover AI training, meaning the revision may be largely cosmetic. Meta says robots.txt preferences are respected, but that commitment is not written into the terms, leaving publishers without a contractual guarantee and raising questions about how scraped content could be used.
- Meta removed 'train' from its business-account terms but kept broad language about 'business products.'
- Legal experts say the revised terms could still permit AI training on scraped website content.
- The new terms take effect October 30 with no option for businesses to opt out beforehand.
Source: niemanlab.org — Andrew Deck, 2026-10-18
Published there as: “Legal experts warn Meta's new terms still grant broad scraping permissions”
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