Meta has officially paused its controversial update to commercial terms for business accounts following widespread criticism. The company stated that existing terms will remain in effect while it continues to engage with stakeholders. The policy changes were initially scheduled to take effect on October 30, but the implementation date was subsequently pushed back to November 20.
The proposed update faced significant backlash from legal experts, news publishers, and regulators globally. Critics argued that the vague language would allow Meta to ignore robots.txt preferences and scrape external content for AI training without paying licensing fees. Publishers were particularly concerned that the terms required them to provide test credentials to bypass paywalls.
Legal actions and regulatory scrutiny intensified ahead of the planned rollout. Courts in Brazil and Norway issued preliminary injunctions against the terms, while the UK Competition and Markets Authority launched a formal investigation into potential abuse of market dominance. In the US, senators Adam Schiff and Marsha Blackburn formally requested that Mark Zuckerberg withdraw the update.
Meta vice president of communications Andy Stone confirmed on X that the company would delay the implementation of the updated terms. Stone noted that the company plans to conduct full consultations with industry groups and leaders before making any policy changes. The company acknowledged that this consultation process could extend beyond the previously announced November 20 deadline.
