Meta targets business users over websites
The gist
Meta's revised business terms take effect Oct 30, 2026, as legal experts say they could allow news-site scraping.
Meta denies any crawler change; publishers must decide whether to accept the terms.
How it unfolded
- Oct 15, 2026Nieman Lab publishes a report, based on three legal experts who reviewed the terms at its request, saying Meta's new commercial terms could allow scraping of news sites.
- Oct 16, 2026Meta spokesperson Andy Stone calls reports that the updated terms would allow scraping of news sites "false"; Meta tells Ars Technica there is no change to how it uses web crawlers.
- Oct 30, 2026Meta's revised Commercial Terms take effect; businesses that do not agree "may stop all access or use of our Products for business or commercial purposes."