Meta Removes Terms Provision Legal Experts Said Could Allow AI Scraping
Summary
Meta removes a provision from its commercial terms of use that legal experts told Nieman Lab could let it scrape business account domains and URLs to train its AI models. The Verge reports the removal. A Meta spokesperson says the terms only covered ads and business products and that crawling practices do not change.
Key Points
- Legal experts tell Nieman Lab the provision was "remarkable" and could let Meta scrape publisher websites to train AI models.
- The provision covers Meta's ability to "develop, improve, research, train, and maintain the integrity of" its products and services.
- Meta defeated a high-profile copyright infringement lawsuit last year, while other cases against AI companies continue.