Brief
Meta revises website‑scraping terms after business‑customer backlash
The change, announced late Friday, narrows language around AI training but leaves crawler rights unchanged.
By Felo News Desk · Published
Late on Friday, Meta announced minor revisions to a draft commercial‑terms document that governs how the company may scrape content from business websites. The update follows criticism from advertising clients and media‑industry representatives, according to a statement cited by the Mercury News.
What happened
Meta’s original draft allowed the firm to use data collected from any site linked to a business that uses its ads or other products, including for artificial‑intelligence training. In the revised version, the explicit reference to "train" has been removed, and the language now emphasizes "advertising and business products". The preview of the new terms, linked in the source, shows that the change scales down the scope of permissible uses but does not alter the definition of automated tools such as web scrapers, bots, spiders or crawlers.
What the reports add
Gizmodo notes that the Mercury News quoted Meta’s statement: “We’ve heard you and want to clarify: the crawling terms we consolidated only applied to our ads and business products, and we’ve clarified that in the terms themselves.” The outlet also reports that News/Media Alliance spokesperson Sam Quigley said the revision “appears as if the new language just limits what Meta is allowed to use publisher content for, but not their ability to crawl and get the content in the first place.” Quigley added that, because the terms do not expressly forbid training, the possibility remains.
What was said
Meta’s Friday statement, as quoted by the Mercury News, stressed that the company heard concerns and clarified the scope of its crawling provisions. Sam Quigley, speaking for the News/Media Alliance, warned that the removal of the word “train” does not guarantee that Meta will not use scraped content for AI training.
How it came about
The revision follows a wave of feedback from business customers and media groups who argued that the original language gave Meta overly broad rights to harvest and repurpose website data. Earlier coverage by Felo News highlighted the upcoming rollout of Meta’s expanded commercial terms on Oct. 30, describing how the company intended to use automated tools to collect site content for various product improvements.
Key facts
- Meta removed the word "train" from its draft commercial‑terms document. (gizmodo.com)
- The company said the crawling provisions apply only to its ads and business products. (gizmodo.com)
- News/Media Alliance spokesperson Sam Quigley said the change may not limit Meta’s ability to crawl sites. (gizmodo.com)
Sources
- [1] gizmodo.com — originally reported as “'We’ve Heard You': Meta Tweaks Controversial Website-Scraping Terms Slightly”
