Source time Edition date
IndustryThe Verge AI
Meta’s AI could still scrape news sites, legal experts say
法律专家称Meta的AI仍可能抓取新闻网站
James Grimmelmann argues Meta's revised business terms still leave room to scrape entire news sites, so readers should watch whether publishers or regulators force clearer limits before the October 30th effective date.
Judgment
Publishers deciding whether to rely on robots.txt before Meta’s October 30 terms take effect must weigh litigation or licensing, because the revised wording still lets Meta “develop” business products from content associated with their accounts.
Basis
Grimmelmann told Nieman Lab the revision “does nothing to restrict the ‘associated with your products or services’ [language] that would let Meta scrape entire sites.” Matt Topic of Loevy & Loevy said the revised terms still let Meta use scraped content to develop any “business product,” an undefined term, and that “develop” is broad enough to include “train.” Meta spokesperson Daniel Roberts told The Verge that content owners can use robots.txt to signal preferences and that the update “is not about scraping news sites” and gives no new rights superseding those preferences. The mechanism: Meta first said it “may use any content” from sites associated with a business account to “develop, research” and “train” its products; after backlash it removed “train” but kept “develop” and “business product,” so a contractual permission may still be read broadly even as robots.txt signals disagreement.
Unclear The source does not say whether Meta will define “business product” or “develop” before October 30, nor how a court would reconcile the contract language with robots.txt.
Next Check Meta’s business terms page on October 30 for any added definition of “business product” or “develop,” and whether the “associated with your products or services” clause remains.