Meta drops "train" from business terms, but scraping rights stay broad, experts say

Meta revised the web-scraping clause in its upcoming commercial terms for business accounts after Nieman Lab reported Thursday that the terms would permit broad scraping of websites “associated with” those accounts and possibly let Meta train its AI models on the content; the revision, published Friday, removes the word “train” and limits uses to “advertising and business products,” Nieman Lab reported Oct. 17. The terms take effect Oct. 30, with no option for business accounts to opt out before then and no language about respecting robots.txt files; of three legal experts Nieman Lab consulted, Cornell Law School professor James Grimmelmann said the clause would still “let Meta scrape entire sites,” while a Meta spokesperson said the terms apply only to ads and business products and “don’t give us new rights that supersede” publishers’ robots.txt preferences. The European Publishers Council said it would petition the European Commission and EU telecom regulators to scrutinize the terms, and the News/Media Alliance and the UK’s News Media Association also objected.