Meta removes language that may have allowed it to scrape news sites
News Source
β’2026-10-17T11:04:36-04:00
π° What Happened
Meta has removed a line from its business terms that said it could use any content from web pages and links to develop, improve and train its products. Experts read that as permission to scrape news sites for AI training without paying, and to ignore sites that block crawlers.
After pushback, Meta changed the wording. A spokesperson said the line only ever covered ads and business products, and that sites can still use a file called robots.txt to say no to crawlers.
π The Backstory
Meta first denied anything had changed. Its communications chief said claims about new scraping rights were false. Then the company removed the wording outright and put out a statement saying it had heard the criticism.
This is not the first time Meta has rewritten its rules after users and publishers complained. News groups have been watching closely, because AI companies training on their work without payment is a growing fight.
π― Why It Matters
A robots.txt file is how a website tells bots to stay out. If AI firms can override it in their terms, publishers lose the main way they control their own work.
Meta has removed a line from its business terms that said it could use any content from web pages and links to develop, improve and train its products. Experts read that as permission to scrape news sites for AI training without paying, and to ignore sites that block crawlers.
After pushback, Meta changed the wording. A spokesperson said the line only ever covered ads and business products, and that sites can still use a file called robots.txt to say no to crawlers.
Meta first denied anything had changed. Its communications chief said claims about new scraping rights were false. Then the company removed the wording outright and put out a statement saying it had heard the criticism.
This is not the first time Meta has rewritten its rules after users and publishers complained. News groups have been watching closely, because AI companies training on their work without payment is a growing fight.
A robots.txt file is how a website tells bots to stay out. If AI firms can override it in their terms, publishers lose the main way they control their own work.