Copyright Alliance Challenges Meta’s Website-Collection Rules Over Potential AI Uses

Meta wants businesses that use Facebook or Instagram to agree to terms allowing it to automatically collect content from their websites. The Copyright Alliance objects because it argues that the collected material could then be used to train AI models or inform AI-generated answers. This automated collection is known as scraping. For artists, labels and publishers, the dispute concerns whether using Meta’s platforms for promotion would also grant permissions over content hosted on their own websites. It does not establish that Meta has used particular songs to train AI.

The controversy emerged publicly on October 15, when reporting highlighted the proposed permissions. Meta subsequently removed an explicit reference to training its products and postponed implementation from October 30 to November 20. The company says the provisions concern advertising and business products and do not change its crawling practices. The Copyright Alliance argues that the remaining wording still leaves room for AI uses without separate permission from content owners.

The Copyright Alliance urged Meta to withdraw the changes in an October 27 statement. The organization objects to businesses having no separate option to refuse the collection permissions while retaining their commercial accounts. It argues that creators across industries should not have to give up access to their audiences to retain control over how their work is used.

Norwegian media companies have pursued a separate court challenge. Ten organizations, including NRK, TV 2, Schibsted and Amedia, asked Oslo District Court to halt the changes while their legality is examined. On October 28, Norway’s Media Businesses’ Association reported that the court had prohibited implementation pending judicial determination of their legality. This was an interim intervention in the Norwegian proceeding, rather than a final worldwide ruling on Meta’s terms or AI training.

Also on October 28, Meta communications executive Andy Stone said the company would consult industry groups before implementing changes and would postpone them again if discussions extended beyond November 20. Existing terms would remain in place meanwhile. Those discussions have yet to resolve whether businesses can use Meta’s platforms for promotion while separately choosing whether their website content may be collected and used for AI. The Copyright Alliance is seeking withdrawal of the changes; the Norwegian media companies are pursuing their challenge in court.