From Ars Technica · · 2m
Meta removes 'train' from AI terms after legal backlash
Meta softened its commercial terms of service after experts warned it could scrape news sites to build AI without paying licensing fees.
In brief
Meta softened its commercial terms of service after experts warned it could scrape news sites to build AI without paying licensing fees. Meta revised its commercial terms to remove the word 'train' after legal experts warned the policy could let it scrape news sites for AI training without licensing fees. Originally…
Meta removes 'train' from policy
Meta dropped the word 'train' from its commercial terms of service after legal experts warned the policy could let the company scrape news sites for AI without paying licensing fees.
What the original terms allowed
Meta's initial terms authorized the company to use any content from websites posted on business pages to provide, develop, improve, research, train, and maintain its products and services.
What the revised terms say
The updated terms delete 'train' and no longer refer to any content. Instead, they allow Meta to periodically pull updates from business users' websites to provide, develop, improve, research, and maintain advertising and business products.
Experts say revision falls short
Matt Topic, a media and intellectual property attorney at Loevy and Loevy, told Nieman Lab that the revised terms still allow Meta to use scraped content to develop any business product, and develop is broad…
“The revised version of the new terms still allows Meta to use that scraped content to develop any 'business product.' That doesn't seem to be a defined term, and presumably Meta is developing AI business products. I think 'develop' is broad enough to include 'train.'”
The robots.txt problem
Benjamin Sobel, a University of Wisconsin law professor, said Meta should add specific language agreeing to respect robots.txt scraping instructions. Since complying with robots.txt is voluntary, Meta could ignore it despite the policy.
“you can still express the preference, and unless it's a legally enforceable preference, it can still be ignored all the same”
UK regulator urged to act
Theo Bamber, chief executive for the United Kingdom News Media Association, accused Meta of a shameless land grab and urged UK regulators to prevent Meta from setting this dreadful precedent.
“shameless land grab”
Global publishers demand intervention
The European Publishers Council asked the European Commission to intervene. The News/Media Alliance, the largest news publishing trade association in the US, called the terms outrageous and probably illegal.
October 30 deadline looms
Danielle Coffey, president and CEO of the News/Media Alliance, urged regulators to recognize Meta's decision to withhold audience access unless businesses allow scraping as an abuse of market power that cannot be allowed on October…
“It cannot be allowed to be implemented on October 30”
What to remember
Meta revised its commercial terms to remove the word 'train' after legal experts warned the policy could let it scrape news sites for AI training without licensing fees.
