Meta's new business terms may let it train AI on news sites for free

Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger

The terms, which take effect on Oct 30, let Meta crawl websites associated with business accounts and use their content to train its AI products. They apply to businesses that promote content on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger.

Legal experts say Meta could argue the terms override a site's robots.txt blocking instructions, according to reports. Meta says there is no change to how it uses web crawlers and that site owners can still use robots.txt.

This update is designed to make sure we're able to pull accurate information about products for sale on third-party websites when making on-platform ad and content recommendations, not about scraping news sites.

— Andy Stone, Meta's vice-president of communications

Businesses that do not accept the terms may have to stop using Meta's products for commercial purposes. Last month Meta launched Meta One, which charges businesses and creators to include links in posts and reels.