Meta Delays Business Terms for News Site Scraping
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Meta is delaying new business terms that would let it scrape news sites
The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) opened an investigation into these terms, while Meta states the update is not aimed at news sites.
By Colleen Cabili
· 3 min read · Updated November 2, 2026
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Photo by Laurent Hou/Hans Lucas /AFP via Getty Images
Meta ($META -1.34%) has put on hold a revision to its commercial terms for businesses, potentially allowing it to collect content from news publishers' websites. The CMA opened an investigation on October 30, questioning if the terms breach competition law.
Initially planned for October 30, Meta delayed implementation to November 20 after discussions with the CMA. On October 28, Meta announced a pause in rollout, pending industry group consultation, as reported by the CMA.
The CMA expressed concern that the terms could enable Meta to use content from businesses' websites to enhance its AI features and other services, without the businesses' choice or compensation. The agency worries this might constitute unfair trading practices.
The investigation will determine if Meta holds a dominant position in a relevant U.K. market and, if so, if the terms abuse that position. No decision has been made on whether Meta broke the law; the CMA will gather evidence from Meta and affected parties.
"Where a company holds a dominant position, it must not use that position to impose unfair terms," said CMA Chief Executive Sarah Cardell.
The CMA acted upon concerns from stakeholders, including the News Media Association and The Movement for an Open Web.
According to The Associated Press, the terms would have permitted Meta to deploy bots, web scrapers, and other automated tools to crawl business domains and web pages, with no compensation for extracted content.
A Meta spokesperson, Andy Stone, stated on X ($TWTR 0.00%) on October 16 that the update aimed to let Meta gather accurate product information from third-party sites for ads and recommendations, not about scraping news sites. Stone also noted that Meta will not alter its policies until industry group consultations are complete.
A Norwegian court ordered a temporary halt to the terms on October 28, responding to a petition from 180 Norwegian media companies, as reported by The Associated Press. The injunction remains in effect until the legality of the terms is fully evaluated.
The Norwegian Media Businesses' Association found the delay and Meta's assurances insufficient.
The Movement for an Open Web called the pause and CMA investigation a significant win, stating, "Unless the CMA and other regulators make it abundantly and quickly clear that this sort of anti-competitive landgrab is not acceptable...".