Meta’s New Terms Authorize Scraping Business Websites, Raising Licensing and Paywall Concerns

Meta announced a terms of service update effective October 30, 2026, that authorizes Meta or any entity acting on its behalf to use automated software such as web scrapers and bots to access, index, cache, and analyze domains, web pages, and URLs associated with commercial users’ products or services. The update covers any website linked to a business account, including those that advertise, sell products, develop apps, manage Pages, or use Meta Business Suite.

Meta said the scraped content will be used to provide, develop, improve, research, train, and maintain its products and services. The move is widely seen as supporting Meta’s Muse AI agent, which needs to browse real commercial websites, as well as its advertising business and AI model training. Previously, Meta’s terms already allowed scraping advertiser sites, but the new clause extends this to businesses that do not buy ads.

The update has drawn criticism from legal and media industry figures. Media attorney Matt Topic said it could help Meta avoid millions of dollars in content licensing fees. Nieman Lab reported that the terms might gate news organizations’ access to Meta audiences on contractual conditions. Cornell Law professor James Grimmelmann suggested the “test credentials” language could allow Meta to register for sites to access gated or paywalled content.

Meta spokesperson Andy Stone denied that the update is about scraping news sites, saying it aims to pull accurate product information from third-party websites for ad and content recommendations, and that content owners can use robots.txt to indicate preferences. News/Media Alliance CEO Danielle Coffey called the terms “outrageous and probably illegal.” Some legal scholars also questioned the enforceability of the new clause.