Artificial Intelligence

Meta Delays Controversial New Business Terms Amid Scraping Backlash

Meta has delayed the rollout of its controversial commercial terms of use, which previously sparked heavy criticism from publishers and business partners over AI training and scraping concerns.

Radwan AbdulhadiEditor and technology writer

Published: October 24, 2026 · Updated: October 24, 2026 · 3 min read

Meta Delays Controversial New Business Terms Amid Scraping Backlash — Image: Engadget

Effective Date Pushed to November

Meta's controversial new commercial terms of use will not take effect on October 30 as originally scheduled, according to information shared with media outlets such as Reuters and Fast Company. A spokesperson stated that the company is extending the effective date of its updated Commercial Terms and Self-Serve Ad Terms to November 20.

The extension is intended to allow additional time to explain to partners and stakeholders what is changing under the updated framework and what remains unaffected.

Scraping and AI Training Concerns

The delay follows widespread public and industry scrutiny regarding how Meta plans to handle content from business accounts. The company previously shared a planned update with language explicitly stating that Meta would hold the right to use web scrapers and automated tools to access, index, cache, analyze, collect, retrieve, and crawl domains, web pages, or URLs associated with business accounts.

Furthermore, the initial updated terms indicated that Meta could use any content from those domains and URLs to provide, develop, improve, research, train, and maintain the integrity of Meta Company products, services, and features. Additional details and context are available through coverage by <a href="https://www.engadget.com/2296124/meta-delaying-controversial-business-terms-scraping-concerns/">Engadget</a>.

Image related to the report from Engadget · Source: Engadget

Publisher Pushback and Language Changes

After publishers and various other businesses raised significant concerns, the company <a href="https://www.engadget.com/2291188/meta-tweaks-its-new-terms-of-service-after-backlash-against-scraping/">changed its language</a> to remove explicit references to artificial intelligence training. Despite the adjustment, potentially affected entities continued to submit complaints to antitrust authorities.

The News Media Alliance, an organization representing thousands of news media organizations across the United States and Canada, also <a href="https://www.newsmediaalliance.org/letter-to-meta-demanding-withdrawal-of-new-terms-of-use/">sent the company</a> an open letter. The organization demanded that Meta withdraw its revised terms of use prior to the initial October 30 deadline.

In its open letter, the organization warned that news publishers could be forced under duress and without compensation into providing valuable journalism to support products that might eventually compete with them for readers and advertisers.

Clarifications on Crawlers and Robots.txt

In its official statement regarding the timeline extension, Meta added that it will explain to its partners how it utilizes its web crawlers. The company intends to make it clear that content owners and publishers retain the ability to use robots.txt files.

The plain text file is designed to signal content owners' preferences to incoming crawlers and AI bots, allowing them to block indexing of their content. However, as <a href="https://www.engadget.com/ai-companies-are-reportedly-still-scraping-websites-despite-protocols-meant-to-block-them-132308524.html">previously reported</a> by Reuters, crawlers operated by multiple AI companies regularly ignore instructions specified within robots.txt protocols.