Publishers urge EU to halt Meta’s changes as threat to journalism

The German Federal Association of Digital Publishers and Newspaper Publishers, along with the Media Association of the Free Press, have urged the European Commission to review and temporarily suspend a forthcoming amendment to Facebook's Facebook's parent company's Meta terms of service. This proposed change is set to become effective on October 30 for business customers, according to German news outlet dpa.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the associations expressed concern that Meta intends to automatically search, store, and analyze not only the content posted by publishers on Facebook or Instagram but also the websites linked to those posts, encompassing articles, archives, images, and videos. For regular Facebook and Instagram users, there will be minimal immediate impact upon the implementation date.

The update is primarily aimed at business accounts, advertising, and the compilation of web content. Publishers are apprehensive that Meta could leverage extensive journalistic content for its commercial projects without obtaining further consent or remuneration. The associations contend that even such content could potentially be utilized in conjunction with artificial intelligence.

Meta has since revised the contentious terms in response to criticism; however, the associations deem the modifications insufficient. They argue that the changes could potentially violate the European Digital Markets Act (DMA), a legislation designed to curb the market dominance of major digital corporations. The European Commission must intervene before the automated content capture could result in irreversible consequences, according to the associations.