GoKawiil
Tech News
Meta had updated its commercial terms of use to state it could use content from a business account's domains and URLs to develop, train and maintain its products. Legal experts cited by Nieman Lab warned this broad wording could let Meta scrape publisher websites for AI training, prompting the company to remove the provision after The Verge reported on the controversy.
Meta has removed language from its commercial terms that critics said could allow it to scrape content from websites, including news sites, to train its AI. The clause had stated Meta could use content from domains and URLs to develop and improve its products. Meta spokesperson Daniel Roberts said the terms were clarified to show they only applied to ads and business products, and that the change does not alter how Meta's web crawlers operate.
Meta is updating its commercial and self-serve ad terms, effective October 30th, with language authorizing it to deploy web crawlers and bots on domains "associated" with businesses using its advertising platforms, including news publishers. The terms state Meta can use that content to develop, improve, research, and train its AI products. Meta spokesperson Daniel Roberts says the move simply consolidates existing ad terms and denies any change to how the company uses web crawlers.