The Pulse
Meta Pushes Website-Crawling Terms to November 20
Meta has delayed the start of its updated Commercial Terms and Self-Serve Ad Terms until November 20, 2026. The terms still authorize crawling of websites associated with businesses’ products or services, while publishers’ concerns about th
AI.info Team · Written with AI · fact-checked ·
Meta has moved the effective date of its updated Commercial Terms and Self-Serve Ad Terms from October 30 to November 20, 2026. The delay gives businesses more time before the terms take effect, but the crawling provision remains in the revised terms.
Three weeks added, clause unchanged
A Meta spokesperson told Reuters the company was extending the effective date to allow more time to explain the changes to partners and stakeholders. The revised terms page gives November 20 as the new start date. It does not say the crawling language has been removed or changed.
Under the clause, businesses authorize Meta, or an entity acting on its behalf, to use automated tools including scrapers, bots and crawlers to access websites associated with their products or services. The provision also permits Meta to create test credentials and periodically retrieve updates from those sites. The terms say Meta may use collected material to provide, develop, improve, research and maintain advertising and business products.
What the revised clause says
The revised wording no longer includes the word “train,” which appeared in an earlier version. It retains “develop” among the listed purposes for using material collected from websites. The terms do not specify that every crawled page will be used to train AI systems; the clause describes the permission granted and the purposes Meta lists for the collected material.
The dispute centers on the scope of websites associated with a business’s products or services. Publishers have argued that a business account or Page could connect the clause to journalism on their websites, not just material they choose to post on Meta’s platforms. The terms apply to businesses using Meta products for commercial purposes, rather than to publishers alone.
Publishers challenge the provision
The News/Media Alliance has condemned the terms. Separately, WAN-IFRA sent Meta a letter dated October 22 addressed to Joel Kaplan, Meta’s chief global affairs officer. The letter asks Meta to suspend the crawling provision for news publishers while it talks with the industry, and calls for changes including binding recognition of robots.txt preferences and the ability for publishers to decline the clause without losing access to Meta’s business tools.
“Journalism is not raw material to be collected as a condition of being present on a platform.”
Ladina Heimgartner, WAN-IFRA president, said that in the organization’s statement about the letter. WAN-IFRA says Meta removed an explicit reference to AI training from the clause after criticism, but argues that the remaining “develop” language could still cover use of publishers’ content in Meta’s business products.
Robots.txt assurance is outside the contract
Meta has said content owners can use robots.txt to signal their preferences. The terms themselves do not mention robots.txt, according to WAN-IFRA’s account of its review. The distinction matters to publishers who want that assurance written into the agreement rather than left in a public statement.
The updated date gives businesses until November 20 to review the terms. As of the revised terms, the crawling permission remains in place; the dispute over its reach and the protections available to publishers has not been settled by the postponement.