Canadian news publishers worried about Meta’s new terms of service

OTTAWA — Canadian news companies are expressing concern over updates to Meta’s terms of service, requesting clarity on how the changes may impact them. The revised terms may potentially permit scraping of websites linked to business accounts for AI training, according to initial reports. Meta has since revised these terms, but publishers retain apprehension.

News Media Canada, representing European and British publishers, advocates for government and regulatory intervention. The company's decision to block news content in Canada after the 2023 Online News Act has added to the uncertainty surrounding the effects of the new terms on Canadian outlets. The Canadian Association of Broadcasters has also voiced concerns, emphasizing the need for transparency from Meta regarding the impact of the new terms on Canadian publishers.

News Media Canada's president, Kevin Desjardins, highlights a contradiction in Meta's stance, noting that while the company blocked news content citing insufficient value to its platforms, it is now seeking broad permissions to access and utilize content from publishers' websites for commercial purposes. When asked about the applicability of the terms in Canada, a Meta spokesperson clarified that the revised "crawling terms" only pertain to ads and business products, and do not alter Meta's crawler usage.

Content owners can still employ robots.txt to express their preferences. Canadian publishers have previously utilized robots.txt to block bots from AI companies such as OpenAI. Some Canadian news outlets, including The Canadian Press, have filed lawsuits against OpenAI and Anthropic for utilizing copyrighted material to train AI systems.