Skip to content
Policy and regulation

Meta’s new terms may allow it to train AI on news sites for free.

The Verge AIIndependent reporting·
Corroborated event · 3 outlets

Meta removed language from its terms of service that had raised concerns about web scraping and AI training, saying the update did not change how it crawls the web.

AI brief

Meta's new terms, effective October 30th, reportedly appear to give it permission to crawl and scrape websites associated with businesses that use its platforms, including online publishers, according to Nieman Lab. The terms could allow Meta to train AI on news sites for free.

Why it matters: The terms could let Meta use publishers' content for AI training without paying them.

Written by AI from The Verge AI's published text.

Background

From our own funding, model and news trackers, not from the source.

More coverage of this story (3)

Meta updates terms over scraping and AI training language

Meta removes language that raised scraping and AI training concerns
TechCrunch AI · 17 Oct 2026, 21:31
Meta removes language that may have allowed it to scrape news sites
The Verge AI · 17 Oct 2026, 15:04
Meta grants itself right to scrape content from business customers for model training
The Register AI + ML · 16 Oct 2026, 20:00

Primary source

“Meta's new terms appear to give it permission to crawl and scrape websites "associated" with the businesses that use its platforms - including online publishers, according to a report from Nieman Lab.”
The Verge AI, 16 Oct 2026, 14:02.

Reporting from a publisher outside the organisation being covered.

Read original story ↗