Meta has removed disputed language from its commercial terms after criticism that it could be read as permission to use content from websites to train AI products. The company says the change clarifies the scope of the terms and does not alter how it uses web crawlers.
What changed in Meta’s terms
The removed passage said Meta may use content from specified domains, web pages, or URLs to provide, develop, improve, research, train, and maintain the integrity of Meta Company Products, services, and features covered by the commercial terms and other applicable supplemental terms.
That broad wording drew attention because it mentioned training alongside other uses. Critics interpreted it as potentially covering content taken from websites, including news sites. The passage is no longer on Meta’s commercial terms page, according to the source article.
Why the wording raised concerns
Neiman Lab and James Grimmelmann, a professor of digital and information law at Cornell, were among those who read the terms as an effort to establish rights to use scraped website material for AI products without payment.
They also understood the language as potentially overriding instructions in a site’s robots.txt file. Such files let website owners signal preferences about crawling. The debate therefore focused both on whether web content could be used for AI training and on whether a contractual update would change the effect of those preferences.
The wording itself listed several possible uses, including training, but the source article does not establish that Meta had used it to scrape news sites. It reports how outside observers interpreted the terms and how Meta responded to that interpretation.
Meta’s response and clarification
Meta’s vice president of communications, Andy Stone, and spokesperson Daniel Roberts had pushed back on claims that the company was changing its web crawling practices. Stone said, “There is no change to how Meta uses web crawlers; any suggestion to the contrary is false.”
After the language was removed, Roberts told The Verge that the consolidated crawling terms applied only to Meta’s ads and business products, and that the terms had been clarified to say so. He said the update did not change how Meta uses web crawlers.
Roberts also said content owners could continue using robots.txt to signal their preferences. He said the update was not about scraping news sites and did not give Meta new rights that supersede those preferences.
What the update establishes
The revision addresses a gap between how the terms were read by critics and how Meta says they were intended to work. Removing the disputed passage, while clarifying the terms’ stated scope, gives readers a more direct explanation of the company’s position.
For publishers and other site owners, the practical point in Meta’s statement is that robots.txt remains a way to communicate crawling preferences. Meta says the terms do not override those signals. The source article describes that as the company’s clarification; it does not report a separate change to crawler behavior.
The episode shows how broad language in commercial terms can create uncertainty, especially when it refers to AI training and website content. Meta has now withdrawn the language at issue and says its update clarifies the terms without granting new rights over content owners’ crawling preferences.