Meta is facing criticism over updated business terms that could allow the company to collect content from websites linked to business accounts and use it to develop and train its artificial intelligence products. The changes, scheduled to take effect on October 30, 2026, have raised concerns among publishers and legal experts about copyright, consent and control over online content.
The updated terms cover businesses that use Meta's commercial services, including Facebook Pages, Instagram business accounts and Meta Business Suite. While Meta says the changes are intended to simplify its existing policies, legal experts warn that the wording could give the company broader access to website content than publishers expect.
What Do Meta's New Terms Allow?
Under the revised terms, Meta can use automated tools, including web crawlers and bots, to access, collect, analyse and periodically retrieve content from websites associated with businesses and their products or services.
The terms also state that Meta may use collected material to develop, improve, research and train its products. Since Meta offers several AI-powered services, including its Meta AI assistant, the language has raised questions about whether articles, images and other website material could be used to train its AI systems.
The change is particularly significant for news publishers, whose websites contain large amounts of original reporting and copyrighted material.
Why Are Publishers and Legal Experts Concerned?
Media organizations often license their articles and other content to technology companies for specific uses. Critics fear Meta's revised terms could provide a way to collect similar material without negotiating individual licensing agreements.
Legal experts have also questioned whether the new terms could be interpreted as overriding website instructions designed to block automated crawlers. The policy mentions creating test credentials, which has raised additional concerns about how websites restrict access to registered users.
However, whether the terms would hold up in court remains uncertain. The legality of using copyrighted material to train AI models is already the subject of ongoing disputes between publishers and technology companies.
Meta Says Website Owners Can Block Crawlers
Meta has maintained that it does not intend to use the revised terms as a legal basis to ignore robots.txt instructions that restrict scraping. The company also provides guidance for website owners who want to block its crawlers.
Nevertheless, critics argue that the broad wording of the agreement leaves room for uncertainty. Businesses that reject the updated commercial terms may have to stop using Meta's products for business purposes, rather than simply opting out of the new permissions.
Also Read: The Copyright Battle Over AI-Generated Images: Where Things Stand in 2026
What This Means for AI and Digital Publishing
The dispute highlights a growing conflict between AI development and publishers' rights to control their work. Technology companies need large amounts of data to improve their AI systems, while publishers want greater control over how their content is accessed and reused.
If Meta's interpretation of the terms is challenged, the outcome could have wider implications for online businesses and digital media. For now, publishers face uncertainty over how their content may be used as AI companies continue expanding their data collection efforts.