Meta updates business terms to require authorization for scraping linked content for training

Effective October 30, the new terms explicitly authorize Meta to use web crawlers, bots, and spiders, and to create test credentials to access, index, cache, analyze, collect, or scrape domains, web pages, and URLs linked to business products and services, and to pull updates periodically. The word "training" appears in the terms, leading legal experts to infer Meta may use this content for AI training. Meta says it is simply consolidating scattered scraping language and stresses that content owners can still manage access via robots.txt. However, Ars found the new terms introduce the phrase "test credentials" for the first time, which experts warn could be used to bypass paywalls and automate scraping. The most directly affected are news publishers: nearly every news organization has at least one Meta business account and could have charged millions for licensing ongoing article access for AI training, but the new terms lock in that authorization. Site owners reliant on Facebook referral traffic also face a choice: accept the terms or stop using Meta's services. Meta has also begun charging users to post links, creating a path of charging first and then obtaining scraping authorization. Three legal experts say it is unclear whether courts will enforce the terms, but Meta can argue it has the right to scrape news site content and train its AI products.