Lifestyle
Meta Removes Disputed Commercial Terms Language Read as Allowing Scraping of News Sites for AI Training
The Verge reports that Meta, after criticism, revised its commercial terms to remove wording critics read as letting it scrape content from news and other sites to train AI, even overriding site blocks. Meta says the terms apply only to its ads and business products, and site owners can still state preferences via robots.txt.
About 4 min read
What happened
The Verge reported on October 17, 2026 that Meta, after criticism, updated its terms again and removed wording suggesting it could scrape content from websites, including news sites, to train its AI. "Scraping" means using automated programs to extract web page content at scale.
According to The Verge, the deleted text appeared on Meta's commercial terms page. It said Meta could use any content from the relevant domains, web pages or URLs to provide, develop, improve, research, train and maintain the integrity of Meta's products, services and features.
Comparing the positions
Below is a summary of each party's position as reported by The Verge. A web crawler is an automated program that visits websites and collects their content. robots.txt is a file a website places on its own server to tell crawlers which content it does not want collected.
| Party | Statement (per The Verge) |
|---|---|
| Neiman Lab; James Grimmelmann, Cornell professor of digital and information law | Read it as Meta trying to use scraped content for free to train AI and override sites' robots.txt blocking instructions |
| Andy Stone, Meta VP of communications; spokesperson Daniel Roberts (earlier) | Said there is no change to how Meta uses web crawlers and any suggestion to the contrary is false |
| Daniel Roberts (later statement) | Said the crawling terms applied only to Meta's ads and business products, this was clarified in the terms, and the updates give no new rights that supersede robots.txt preferences |
What it means for readers and site operators
According to The Verge, Meta says content owners can still state their preferences via robots.txt as always, and that these updates give Meta no new rights that supersede those preferences. This claim comes from Meta itself, so readers should treat it as the company's own explanation, not an independently confirmed conclusion.
The actual effect of the full terms should be judged by the official terms Meta publishes.
Frequently asked questions
What did Meta remove this time?
According to The Verge, Meta removed text from its commercial terms page that mentioned using content from relevant domains, web pages or URLs to train and develop its products, services and features.
How does Meta explain the update?
The Verge quotes spokesperson Daniel Roberts as saying the consolidated crawling terms applied only to Meta's ads and business products, do not change how Meta uses web crawlers, and are not about scraping news sites.
What were critics worried about?
According to The Verge, Neiman Lab and James Grimmelmann, among others, read the wording as Meta wanting to use scraped content for free to train AI and override sites' robots.txt blocking instructions.
Can sites still state preferences with robots.txt?
Per Meta's statement quoted by The Verge, content owners can still state their preferences via robots.txt as always, and the updates give Meta no new rights that supersede those preferences.
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