Meta Removes AI Training Reference From Commercial Terms

Meta has updated its commercial terms to remove an explicit reference to artificial intelligence training from its language regarding content collection from websites. Legal experts have raised concerns that the original wording could have allowed Meta to gather content without separate licensing agreements. The revised terms, set to take effect on October 30, 2026, limit the purposes for collecting content to advertising and business products.

While Meta maintains that the change clarifies existing permissions and does not alter its use of web crawlers, lawyers argue that the remaining language could still include AI-related development. The controversy stems from a report by the Nieman Journalism Lab, which revealed that Meta's original terms allowed the company to use collected content to train and improve its products.

Meta has not publicly confirmed plans to use the scraped data for AI training. News organizations utilizing Meta's platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp, are particularly affected by these changes as they may rely on Facebook for content distribution to audiences.