Home/Events/Meta Removes Controversial Language Allowing Scraping of News Sites for AI Training

Meta Removes Controversial Language Allowing Scraping of News Sites for AI Training

Resolved

Confidence

90%

Impact: 70%

Updated 9m ago

Consensus Brief

Meta has updated its terms to remove language that allowed the scraping of news sites for AI training. This change follows backlash from experts who interpreted the previous terms as giving Meta rights to use content without consent. Meta's representatives clarified that the updates do not alter how the company uses web crawlers.

Sourced from

The VergeT2 The VergeT2 The VergeT2 The VergeT2+10 more

Primary: The Verge

What Changed Since Last Update

9m ago

New corroborating source added: The Verge published an update on 2026-10-17 ("Meta removes language that may have allowed it to scrape news sites").

Claim Ledger

2 claims tracked across sources

Disputed

Meta may use any content from such domains, web pages, or URLs to provide, develop, improve, research, train, and maintain the integrity of, the Meta Company Products.

Confirmed Fact

Content owners can use robots.txt to signal their preferences.