Meta delays new business terms until November 20 amid publisher pushback on AI scraping

Meta is delaying the enforcement of its new business terms from October 30th to November 20th following global publisher backlash. Publishers are concerned the terms could permit Meta to scrape news sites for AI training, despite Meta updating the terms to remove language about 'training.' Meta spokesperson Daniel Roberts said the delay allows time to explain changes, including how Meta uses web crawlers and that content owners can still use robots.txt to signal preferences. The News/Media Alliance sent a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg demanding revisions due to concerns of 'severe harm' to publishers, and digital advertisers and publishers in the European Union and the UK urged regulators to halt the terms.