Meta pauses changes to controversial terms of service
Meta has indefinitely paused the rollout of its proposed commercial terms of service, whose controversial clause would have allowed the American tech company to scrape content from websites connected to business accounts on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads.
The update was originally scheduled to go live on Oct. 30, but had to repeatedly push back the launch due to objections from news outlets, politicians, and trade organizations. Meta then postponed the rollout to Nov. 20, which has also been indefinitely delayed.
On Thursday, Nov. 5, Meta announced an update to its Business Help Center, writing, "We recently shared that we were updating the Meta Commercial Terms, Product Catalog Terms, Self-Serve Ad Terms, and Ad Creative Generative AI Terms. These updates are now paused and will not take effect on November 20, 2026. We are continuing to consult with stakeholders and will provide a further update when we have more to share. In the meantime, our existing terms remain in effect."
In a statement to Nieman Lab, Meta wrote it was pausing the changes as they "take our time to get this right."
After Nieman Lab sounded the alarm in mid-October, Meta removed the word "train" from its terms. The tech company also adjusted the scope of future scraped content, limiting it to "advertising and business products." However, per Neiman Lab, legal experts said mass content scraping could still be possible despite the revised terms.
On Oct. 28, Meta vice president of communications Andy Stone wrote on X that the company would not push policy changes "without a full consultation with industry groups and leaders."
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Media organizations have since filed lawsuits in Norway and Brazil, prompting courts in both countries to issue preliminary injunctions to block the terms from taking effect. In the UK, the Competition and Markets Authority launched a formal investigation into Meta to see if the tech company is "abusing a dominant position by imposing exploitative terms on publishers and advertisers," as cited by Nieman Lab. In the US, two senators sent separate letters to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to ask him to withdraw the terms.
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