Meta says it will consult news industry groups and leaders before implementing its proposed new advertising and business terms. The company may postpone the changes beyond November 20 if the consultation is not complete by then, vice president of communications Andy Stone said in a post on X. Meta’s current terms will remain in effect in the meantime.
The proposed terms have faced criticism because they could allow Meta to scrape websites associated with business accounts and potentially use that material to train its AI models, without an opt-out option. Meta previously removed the word “train” from a revised version of the terms. It has also said content owners can use robots.txt to indicate their preferences, although the terms do not explicitly say Meta will respect those signals.
Meta had already postponed the planned rollout to November 20, saying it wanted to explain the changes to partners and stakeholders. The company did not answer Nieman Lab’s questions about which industry groups and leaders it intends to consult.
A Norwegian court separately blocked the terms from taking effect on November 20 while it assesses their legality, according to public broadcaster NRK. The decision followed a lawsuit filed by the Norwegian Media Businesses’ Association, which represents a coalition of major publishers, including NRK and the country’s largest newspaper groups. The association’s board chair, Lene Eltvik Vindfeld, said the court agreed that Meta holds a dominant position in the relevant market and that the terms are unreasonable.
Publishers and politicians have challenged the proposal in several countries, including through complaints to competition authorities and appeals to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. US senators Adam Schiff and Marsha Blackburn have also urged the company to withdraw the terms as currently written. Blackburn welcomed Meta’s willingness to consult but said that a possible delay and a general promise to engage with stakeholders were not enough without changes that protect creators’ intellectual property.
The European Publishers Council has asked the European Commission to prevent the terms from taking effect, arguing that they conflict with the Digital Markets Act. Its executive director, Angela Mills Wade, welcomed Meta’s offer to consult and delay implementation if needed, but said the process should result in binding protections. She said publishers should retain control over further uses of their journalism, including for AI, and the ability to negotiate licensing and payment.
Sources: Nieman Lab.