Meta to Authorize Web Scraping Under New Terms From October 30
Meta says the update covers sites tied to commercial users and that crawler use is unchanged; legal experts and publishers are pushing back.
Meta will roll out a terms-of-service update on October 30 that authorizes the company, or entities acting on its behalf, to use automated scrapers and test credentials to access, index, cache, analyze, collect, retrieve or crawl websites associated with commercial users' products or services, according to Nieman Lab.
Meta defines commercial users as accounts that advertise, market, sell or list products, develop apps, create or use product catalogs, manage a Page or business Group, or use a business product such as Meta Business Suite.
Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said on X that a Techmeme summary of Nieman Lab's account was false and that Meta's use of web crawlers remains the same. He said content owners can use robots.txt flags to indicate their preferences, and that the update is meant to ensure Meta can pull accurate information about products for sale on third-party sites.
The change drew criticism from legal experts and publishers. Meta declined to answer Nieman Lab's questions about Meta One or bypassing paywalls.
Earlier scraping context
Meta already scrapes the web on a large scale. According to Ars Technica, Meta's "test credentials" language previously appeared in its Seller Agreement, where it appeared narrowly tailored to seller-provided URLs submitted to optimize listings.
Meta recently implemented Meta One, a paid subscription that lets some Facebook and Instagram users bypass new external link limits, and has granted some publishers an exemption from Meta One, at least for now.
Quick answers
When does Meta's terms-of-service update take effect?
The update rolls out on October 30.
Who counts as a commercial user under the update?
Accounts that advertise, market, sell or list products, develop apps, create or use product catalogs, manage a Page or business Group, or use a business product such as Meta Business Suite.
What did Meta say about its web crawlers?
Spokesperson Andy Stone said Meta's use of web crawlers remains the same and that content owners can use robots.txt flags to indicate their preferences.