Meta, the owner of Facebook, has been accused of “digital piracy” over plans critics say could allow it to take British publishers’ content to help develop its artificial intelligence models.
As calls grow for the UK competition watchdog to step in, the Silicon Valley company has been warned that its proposed changes could weaken trusted journalism and leave users facing a “cesspit” of online misinformation.
Opponents fear Meta’s proposed new terms and conditions for services including Facebook and Instagram would grant it broader rights to “scrape” content from any UK publisher using its platforms.
The alleged new rights could extend to material published away from Meta’s services, including articles hosted on a publisher’s own website, unless the organisation actively opted out using a digital “off” switch.
Critics argue that the opt-out mechanism may not offer a watertight guarantee. They fear Meta’s approach could mark the beginning of a wider trend towards the unauthorised use, or “theft”, of publishers’ content.
The only way publishers could avoid the rules completely, critics say, would be to delete all of their accounts on Meta’s platforms. That could cause serious financial harm because Facebook and Instagram direct substantial numbers of readers to publishers’ websites.
There are also concerns that removing news accounts would deprive Facebook and Instagram users of reliable, rigorously fact-checked journalism. At the same time, Meta could end up training its AI models on material from less trustworthy sources.
Meta rejects the suggestion that the changes are intended to scrape news websites for AI training. The company says they relate only to the way adverts are displayed on its platforms and to checks confirming that advertisements contain accurate information, including details such as changing prices.
There are fears that Meta’s proposed terms and conditions for Facebook, Instagram and other platforms would give it new rights to “scrape” content from any UK publisher using its services
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is also facing challenges to the proposed terms and conditions from publishers in the United States and Europe
The backlash reached the House of Lords on Tuesday, where peers warned that UK news organisations could be forced to choose between “surrendering their journalism” and withdrawing from Meta’s platforms.
The tech giant was also accused of exploiting its dominant position in the global market.
The Competition and Markets Authority, Britain’s competition watchdog, is examining Meta’s proposed changes. Publishers in Europe and the United States have raised similar concerns, with comparable challenges under way in those regions.
Facing mounting opposition, Meta has postponed the introduction of the changes until November 20.
Danny Groom, CEO and Publisher of Our News Outlet, has spearheaded calls for the CMA to intervene before the deadline.
He said: “This is the worst example yet of tech giants’ desire to shamelessly exploit news publishers and seize their content with complete disregard for value or fair use.
“It’s essential governments wake up to the impact of this new form of digital piracy and the very real threat it poses, not just to global news publishers but to the wider digital ecosystem.
“It is a completely unacceptable move by Meta and must be resisted and challenged at every turn.”
Danny Groom, CEO and Publisher of Our News Outlet, has led growing calls for the CMA to intervene over Meta’s proposed changes
Dame Caroline Dinenage, the Conservative chair of the Commons’ digital, culture and media committee, said the changes could “allow disinformation to flourish”
Theo Bamber, boss of News Media Association, which represents most national, regional and local UK publishers, said: ‘Meta’s disgraceful attempt to force publishers to give up all their journalism for AI scraping is nothing short of a war on the truth.
‘If Meta doesn’t change course, Facebook risks becoming a cesspit of unchallenged mis and disinformation, plunging our information ecosystem into chaos.
‘We need regulators across the globe, including the Competition and Markets Authority here in the UK, to act now to protect consumers from this disastrous outcome.’
Dame Caroline Dinenage, Tory chair of the Commons’ digital, culture and media committee, said: ‘This risks not only undermining the commercial value of journalism, but could also allow disinformation to flourish if publishers decide to pull their accounts from Meta platforms.’
Former Tory tech minister Damian Collins said: ‘Meta’s proposals appear to be an abuse of market power.
‘It is telling businesses that if they use its social media and advertising services, Meta can scrape their websites and use what it finds, for free. No choice, no fee.
READ MORE: King Charles Arrives in The Bahamas to Launch Caribbean Tour
‘This would be a hammer blow to the sustainability of news providers and publishers.
‘It’s like using Dulux to paint your front door, then being told they also get a key to your house and can help themselves to whatever they find inside.’
Crossbench peer Baroness Kidron added: ‘This exposes the truth in what the creative industries have been battling against.
‘It is an assault against those who imagine, create and build the culture and public conversation of the UK.
‘Making theft of all intellectual and creative ideas the condition of using a service is nothing more than a licence to steal.’
During the Lords debate, Liberal Democrat peer Lord Clement-Jones led a cross-party backlash.
Former Tory tech minister Damian Collins said the proposed changes were like ‘using Dulux to paint your front door, then being told they also get a key to your house and can help themselves to whatever they find inside’
Tory peer Baroness Harding of Winscombe said in a Lords debate that UK publishers will be ‘forced to choose between surrendering their journalism or leaving Meta’s platforms’
Baroness Ramsey, responding for the Government in a Lords debate, said ‘The CMA recognises the urgency of this matter’
He said: ‘The terms seem to actually let Meta get around paywalls and technical blocks. And the only way out is for publishers to close the Meta business accounts their advertising depends on.’
Tory peer Baroness Harding of Winscombe said: ‘When Meta withdrew news from its platforms in Canada in response to legislation requiring them to pay for it, the gap was filled with disinformation.
‘If UK publishers are forced to choose between surrendering their journalism or leaving Meta’s platforms, what assessment has the government made of the consequences for our public discourse and our society?’
Labour peer Lord Brennan of Canton added: ‘Can I urge the minister to be robust on this matter and for the government to use all the powers at its disposal to stop what essentially is an abuse of market power by Meta and a threat to trusted journalism.’
Baroness Ramsey, responding for the Government said: ‘The CMA recognises the urgency of this matter, particularly for businesses that rely on Meta services to reach their customers.
‘A delay does not resolve the questions raised by the effect of the new terms. We understand that the CMA is engaging directly with Meta to establish the facts.’
Meta’s proposed changes would ‘authorise’ it ‘or any entity acting on our behalf’ to ‘use automated software’ to ‘access, index, cache, analyse, collect, retrieve or crawl the domains, web pages or URLs (and any content available through them)’ that are linked to users’ ‘products or services’.
It adds: ‘Meta may use any content from such domains, web pages or URLs to provide, develop, improve, research, train and maintain the integrity of, the Meta Company Products, services and features provided under these Commercial Terms and any other applicable supplemental terms.’
Meta has since removed the word ‘train’. However, critics argue retention of the word ‘develop’ could still allow it to use scraped material to improve its AI models.
Such models are capable of pulling together information for web users from a wide range of sources, including news websites, and displaying them in a way which prevents the user from needing to visit publishers’ platforms.
A CMA spokesman said: ‘The CMA has been in urgent discussions with Meta on this important issue.
‘Meta has now paused implementation until 20 November. We will continue to scrutinise these terms and engage with Meta and others as we consider our next steps.’
The watchdog has the ability to effectively force Meta into dropping the changes in the UK via sanctions, including fines.
Meta denies the changes are about AI training or scraping news websites and are aimed at improving how adverts are displayed.
It says users of its platforms can ‘signal’ their preference to opt-out.
A spokesman added: ‘We are extending the effective date of our updated Commercial Terms and Self-Serve Ad Terms to November 20 to allow more time for us to explain to our partners and stakeholders what’s changing and what’s not – including how Meta uses web crawlers [automated software that browses the web to index content].’
STEPHEN GLOVER: Obnoxious practices, unbridled power… how this digital behemoth threatens Press freedom
