Meta Scrubs 'Train' From Commercial Terms Amid AI Scraping Backlash
AI-generated image · Bay Street Wire
The tech giant revised its business terms of service before an October 30 rollout, but legal experts warn the updated language remains overly broad.
Meta has removed the word "train" from its streamlined commercial terms of service following criticism that the policy allowed the company to endlessly scrape websites linked to business pages, according to Ars Technica.
Under the initial version of the policy, Meta was authorized to use "any content" from linked sites to "provide, develop, improve, research, train, and maintain the integrity" of its services. In the revised language, Meta is instead permitted to "periodically pull updates" to "provide, develop, improve, research, and maintain advertising and business products," in addition to supporting product security and integrity.
Meta spokespeople told Ars Technica the updates clarify that crawling terms apply only to business products and ads, asserting that the changes do not grant new rights that supersede robots.txt preferences. However, Matt Topic, a media and intellectual property attorney at Loevy & Loevy, told Nieman Lab that "develop" is likely broad enough to encompass "train," suggesting publishers should remain concerned.
Other legal experts echoed these concerns to Nieman Lab. James Grimmelmann, a professor at Cornell Law School, described the "develop...advertising and business products" language as "broad enough to drive a truck through." Additionally, University of Wisconsin law professor Benjamin Sobel noted that because robots.txt compliance is voluntary, Meta could potentially ignore those signals by relying on the legally enforceable terms of service.
The policy has drawn international condemnation. Theo Bamber, CEO of the United Kingdom News Media Association, called the move a "shameless land grab," while Angela Mills Wad, executive director of the European Publishers Council, urged the European Commission to intervene. In the U.S., Danielle Coffey, president and CEO of the News/Media Alliance, described the policy as "outrageous and probably illegal," calling it an abuse of market power.