Meta’s new terms may allow it to train AI on news sites for free
TL;DR
Meta's new terms appear to give it permission to crawl and scrape websites "associated" with the businesses that use its platforms - including online publishers, according to a report from Nieman Lab. The new terms, which go into effect on October 30th, say Meta can use this outside content to "develop, improve, research," and "train" its AI products.
Nauti's Take
Teams using Meta for distribution or advertising should check which connected websites may fall under the new terms and whether robots. txt still provides meaningful protection.
Until the legal interpretation is clearer, sensitive or exclusive content should not rely on technical crawling blocks as its only safeguard.
Summary
Meta's new terms appear to give it permission to crawl and scrape websites "associated" with the businesses that use its platforms - including online publishers, according to a report from Nieman Lab. The new terms, which go into effect on October 30th, say Meta can use this outside content to "develop, improve, research," and "train" its AI products.
While Meta spokesperson Daniel Roberts says that the company is just "consolidating" its commercial and self-serve ad terms, legal experts tell Nieman Lab that this could allow Meta "to argue its commercial terms supersede other blocking instructions," like a site's robots. txt file.
Sources