Meta removed from its terms the wording that experts linked to the possibility of collecting materials from news sites for AI training. TechCrunch AI and The Verge AI reported this in the metadata of their posts.
A Meta spokesperson said that the update to the terms does not reflect changes in how the company crawls webpages. The full text of the revised terms and details about the affected pages are not provided in the available materials.
For news publishers, this matters because it raises questions about how their materials are used in developing AI models. But the available information does not allow determining whether removing the wording signals a real change in Meta's practice or simply an editorial change to the document.
editorial commentary
Why it matters
The likely near-term consequence is new questions from publishers to Meta about the boundary between changing the terms and changing data-collection practices. The next verifiable signal will be the publication of the full terms text or confirmed information about web crawling. Significant uncertainty remains due to the absence of the full text of documents and primary verification.