Meta removes the word "train" from its new commercial terms

In short: Meta edited its new commercial terms for business users to remove the word “train” after criticism that the policy could allow broad website scraping for AI.

What happened

Meta has updated its “streamlined” commercial terms of service that are set to take effect on October 30. The company removed the word “train” and narrowed some wording after backlash from legal experts and news industry groups.

The earlier version said Meta could use “any content” from websites linked on business pages to “provide, develop, improve, research, train, and maintain” Meta products. Critics warned this looked like permission for Meta to keep copying large amounts of content from those websites, a process often called scraping (like a robot quickly reading and saving pages at scale).

The updated version no longer says “any content” and now says Meta may “periodically pull updates” from business users’ websites to support “advertising and business products,” along with integrity and security. Meta says the change does not alter how it uses web crawlers, and it notes that site owners can use robots.txt, which is a small file that asks bots not to visit certain pages (like a “do not enter” sign). However, Meta did not add a clear promise in the terms that it will follow robots.txt, and some experts say the remaining language is still broad enough to cover AI development.

Why it matters

Many small businesses, publishers, and creators rely on Meta’s platforms to reach customers. If the terms are unclear, they may feel pressured to accept broad access to their websites just to keep using business tools. News groups in the UK, EU, and US are urging regulators to step in before the October 30 rollout.

Source: Arstechnica