# Meta removes 'training' from crawl clause in commercial terms effective Oct 30

Digest AI · Policy & Regulation · published 2026-10-20T09:23:00Z

Canonical: https://digestai.news/story/meta-removes-training-from-crawl-clause-in-commercial-terms-effective

## Summary

Meta updated its Commercial Terms, which take effect on Oct 30 2026, to delete the word “training” from the list of purposes for which it may crawl sites linked to a business’s products or services. The revised clause now limits crawling to the provision, development, improvement and research of advertising and business products, as well as product integrity and safety. Meta said the change was made after criticism from news organisations and legal experts, and a spokesperson told The Verge the crawler is not intended for scraping news sites.

Legal experts interviewed by Nieman Lab say three concerns remain: the term “develop” is broad enough to include training, “business products” is undefined, and robots.txt is only a voluntary request that does not give sites legal protection. The original wording that mentioned training was still visible in a UK preview as of Oct 19, and the clause offers no individual opt‑out – the only alternative is to stop using Meta’s commercial products.

## Key points

- Meta’s new Commercial Terms take effect Oct 30 2026 and drop “training” from crawl purposes.
- Crawling is now limited to advertising and business product development, improvement, research, and safety.
- Experts warn ‘develop’ is vague, ‘business products’ undefined, and robots.txt offers no legal shield.

## Why it matters

The policy determines whether Meta can harvest web content for AI models, affecting news sites, advertisers and any business with a Meta presence.

## Sources

1. [Meta specifies crawling of business sites in 'Commercial Terms' effective October 30. 'AI training' wording removed after criticism, but 3 concerns remain](https://note.com/ali_archive/n/n032e0b2f53c2?hl=en) (note.com, 2026-10-20)

Part of the developing story: [Meta AI Scraping Dispute With News Publishers](https://digestai.news/thread/meta-s-new-terms-may-allow-free-ai-training-on-news-sites) (2 stories)

## Cite

Digest AI, "Meta removes 'training' from crawl clause in commercial terms effective Oct 30", 20 October 2026, https://digestai.news/story/meta-removes-training-from-crawl-clause-in-commercial-terms-effective

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