Meta has updated its business terms to remove language suggesting it could freely train its AI models on news sites like The Verge. The new conditions, effective from October 30th, attempt to clarify that the company cannot use content without explicit permission. However, legal experts argue these revisions fail to stop the scraping of entire websites under existing clauses. James Grimmelmann, a professor of digital and information law at Cornell Law School, states the changes do nothing to restrict the “associated with your products or services” language. This specific phrasing could still allow Meta to harvest full site content for its artificial intelligence systems.
The dispute highlights a gap between corporate policy updates and legal definitions of data usage. Publishers remain concerned that broad interpretations of association grants Meta continued access to their work without compensation. The situation underscores the difficulty of protecting intellectual property when terms of service rely on vague connections between products and content. Until the wording is tightened, news organisations cannot assume their data is safe from automated collection.
* Changes take effect on October 30th
* Cornell Law professor questions remaining loopholes
* Publishers fear broad “associated” definitions persist
