Trending
Prev Story
Next Story

Meta delays new business terms after publisher pushback on AI scraping

The Verge •
October 23, 2026 • 02:47 PM
• By Emma Roth
1
1 reads 0 reactions

Legal experts argued that Meta’s changes weren’t enough to rule out AI scraping.

Meta delays new business terms after publisher pushback on AI scraping

Following backlash from publishers across the globe, Meta is pushing the enforcement of its new terms to November 20th.

Following backlash from publishers across the globe, Meta is pushing the enforcement of its new terms to November 20th.

Meta is delaying the enforcement of its new business terms after publishers raised concerns that they could allow the company to scrape news sites for AI training, as reported earlier by Fast Company . In a statement to The Verge , Meta spokesperson Daniel Roberts says the terms will go into effect on November 20th “to allow more time for us to explain to our partners and stakeholders what’s changing and what’s not.”

The business terms , which were originally supposed to go into effect on October 30th, appeared to give Meta permission to freely scrape the new sites that use its platforms, while using the material for AI training. Though Meta updated these terms to remove language about “training” its products, legal experts argued the change is not enough to rule out the possibility.

The News/Media Alliance sent a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday, demanding that the company revise its business terms over concerns that they would cause “severe harm” to publishers. Digital advertisers and publishers in the European Union and the UK also urged regulators to force Meta to halt its new terms.

In response to this backlash, Meta is now delaying its new terms entirely. Roberts says the delay will give Meta more time to lay out “how Meta uses web crawlers and the fact that content owners will still be able to use robots.txt to signal preferences,” referring to the file that signals to scrapers whether they can crawl a site.

This is the title for the native ad

This is the title for the native ad

Prev Swipe Story Next

Same Story from Other Publications

Compare how 6 other independent news outlets reported on this story.

6 Publications
The Next Web (TNW)
1w ago
CMA opens Meta investigation over use of publishers’ content for AI

CMA opens Meta investigation over use of publishers’ content for AI

‘We welcome the opportunity to explain our approach,’ Meta says, as the CMA opens an investigation into its terms for publishers’ content.

#meta #publisher
Compare →
CNBC World
1w ago
Why AI is boosting Meta's ad business while hurting Google search

Why AI is boosting Meta's ad business while hurting Google search

The gap between Meta's ad revenue growth and Google's search expansion was the widest it's been since 2021 in the latest quarter.

Wired
1w ago
Meta’s Muse Could Upend All Kinds of Businesses. It Hasn’t Yet

Meta’s Muse Could Upend All Kinds of Businesses. It Hasn’t Yet

Companies have spent the past several weeks trying to reassure investors that Muse and other AI agents pose more of an opportunity than a threat.

BBC News
1d ago
Russell Brand's social media accounts disabled by Meta

Russell Brand's social media accounts disabled by Meta

It comes after the 51-year-old disgraced entertainer was sentenced to 10-and-a-half-years in prison.

The Age
1d ago
Meta shuts down page dedicated to tracking the murder of women in Australia

Meta shuts down page dedicated to tracking the murder of women in Australia

The founder of Australian Femicide Watch, Sherele Moody, has demanded the page be reinstated.

TechCrunch
1d ago
Meta is losing its longtime head of infrastructure | TechCrunch

Meta is losing its longtime head of infrastructure | TechCrunch

Santosh Janardhan, who originally joined the company in 2009, will be stepping down from his role.

Related Stories

Technology
Build #2611