Meta Removes Controversial Clause on Using Website Content for AI

“Meta” has revised its commercial terms again following criticism. The company removed a section that had been understood as granting permission to use website content to train artificial intelligence (AI) systems. The clause had sparked discontent because it granted the right to automatically collect material from news websites.

The deleted text stated that the company could use any content obtained from certain domains, webpages, and internet addresses to develop, improve, research, and train its products and services. Legal experts had described it as a clause that enabled material to be collected from websites without payment. In their view, the wording could also override the blocking rules set by a website owner in the “robots.txt” file.

“Meta” said the terms had not changed how web crawlers operate. A web crawler is a program that automatically checks website pages and collects data. According to the company, the consolidated rules applied only to advertising and business products. The latest change is also intended to state this more clearly. Nevertheless, the controversial wording has been removed entirely.

According to the company’s statement, content owners can continue to indicate their preferences through the “robots.txt” file. It also emphasized that the changes were not intended to collect material from news websites. “Meta” added that the updated terms create no new right to override these website preferences. Thus, the company has both removed the controversial wording and stated that its previous data collection practices have not changed.