Meta delays commercial terms to November 20 after publisher objections

Meta said on October 23 that it would delay its updated commercial terms from October 30 to November 20, following objections from publishers and digital advertisers over how the company might use their content for AI services. The change gives Meta more time to explain the terms before they take effect, as EU regulators discuss the proposal with the company.

The postponement changes the timeline in earlier NewsJaws coverage of the request to suspend Meta’s commercial terms, when October 30 remained the scheduled effective date. Reuters reported that publishers and digital advertisers complained to EU and UK antitrust authorities, alleging the terms would give Meta an unlimited right to use their content for AI services. Meta rejected that allegation.

Why publishers objected to Meta’s terms

According to The Verge, Meta revised the terms to remove language about training its products. Legal experts cited by the outlet argued that the change did not rule out that use. The legal scope of the revised terms remains disputed; the publishers’ reading of them is an allegation rather than an established account of what Meta is entitled to do.

Meta’s explanation and the EU response

Meta spokesperson Daniel Roberts told The Verge that the extension would allow more time to explain to partners and stakeholders ‘what’s changing and what’s not.’ Reuters separately reported a Meta spokesperson’s statement that the company would explain how it uses web crawlers and that content owners could still use robots.txt to signal their preferences. That file lets website operators communicate instructions to automated crawlers; Meta did not say the postponement would change the terms themselves.

The EU antitrust watchdog welcomed the delay while discussions with Meta continued, Reuters reported. The watchdog also said it had sent information requests to companies that had not published summaries of data used to train their models. For publishers and advertisers, the immediate result is a later effective date and more time to examine Meta’s explanation before the terms are due to apply on November 20.