Meta pauses new business terms after 180 Norwegian publishers win court order

Meta has paused the rollout of updated terms for its business accounts. The new rules were scheduled to take effect on Oct. 30. They would have authorized the company to use automated software to index, cache, and analyze the web pages associated with business accounts. The delay follows legal action and regulatory scrutiny in Europe.

The change applied to all business clients. Critics argued it allowed Meta to extract content without payment. They said the company could use that data to build competing products, including artificial intelligence services. Meta stated the update only applies to its advertising and business products. The company said its use of web crawlers remains unchanged.

A court in Norway granted a temporary injunction on Oct. 28. The order suspended the new terms at the request of 180 Norwegian media companies. The Norwegian Media Businesses' Association supported the case. Its member newspapers account for about 97% of the country's newspaper circulation. Lene Eltvik Vindfeld, the association's chair, said the court agreed Meta holds a dominant position and the terms are unreasonable.

The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority began its own investigation on Oct. 30. The regulator said it is concerned that forcing publishers to accept these terms could amount to unfair trading conditions. Meta spokesman Andy Stone said the update is designed to pull accurate product information for ads. He noted the change is not about scraping news sites.

The Association of American Publishers called on Meta to drop the terms. Maria A. Pallante, the group's president and CEO, said the terms imply permission is required to use creative works. She argued Meta is abusing its market power by compelling consent from commercial users. Meta later removed the word "train" from the updated terms.

The Norwegian MBL said the postponement is not enough. Randi S. Øgrey, the group's CEO, said the financial foundations of independent news media are at stake. The group demands that Meta respect publishers' reservations against scraping. It also wants separate, voluntary agreements with payment for any use of journalism in AI products.

The European Commission confirmed it discussed the terms with Meta. Spokesperson Sara Simonini said the commission welcomed the delay. She said the EU executive is committed to ensuring Meta complies with EU law. The commission also asked AI model providers to detail their training materials under the new AI Act.