Canadian Publishers Push Back Against Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) Over AI Content Scraping Terms
News Media Canada, a group that represents the country's largest publishers, is demanding that Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: META) drop changes to its business terms. The changes could allow Meta to use news content to train its artificial intelligence (AI) systems.
The group says the new wording could let Meta use automated tools called web crawlers to collect content from websites connected to business account users. It argues that the rules do not provide enough limits or explain clearly how this collection would work.
The original terms said users gave Meta permission to use tools such as web crawlers to collect related content to “develop, improve, research, train … Meta company products, service and features provided under these commercial terms.”
Meta briefly introduced the updated terms but later withdrew them after strong criticism from media organizations and digital rights groups in the United States and Europe.
The company has since removed the disputed wording and delayed the planned start date. It first moved the date to October 30 and then delayed it again to November 20.
Meta owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The company has committed to spending US$825 billion, with a large part of that money going toward the computing systems and capacity needed for AI.
Meta has been investing heavily in AI as it tries to catch up with leading AI companies such as OpenAI Group PBC and Anthropic PBC.
News Media Canada represents major Canadian publishers, including The Globe and Mail Inc., Torstar Corp., and Postmedia Network Canada Corp. This gives the group a strong voice in the dispute.
Paul Deegan, president and chief executive officer of News Media Canada, said Meta's changes so far do not address the publishers' main concerns.
“We are still very much concerned,” Deegan said. He warned that the group is ready to ask the Canadian government to step in if Meta keeps the new terms in any form.
Deegan said the revised terms do not guarantee that Meta will follow the stated limits or restrict how much content its web crawlers collect.
“The revised terms don’t actually spell out that Meta will abide by the restrictions, nor do they promise that Meta will limit scraping to identified bots,” he said.
He added that the terms “do not limit how content collected by that crawler may be used.” This leaves publishers concerned that large amounts of their content could be collected and used without clear limits.
The dispute reflects a wider conflict between large technology companies and news organizations over the use of publishers' content to develop commercial AI systems.