Meta has indefinitely paused the application of new commercial terms of service that would allow the company to collect content from websites belonging to users' business accounts. This decision was announced on Thursday, the 5th, after weeks of intense pressure from media outlets, regulatory bodies, and editorial sector representatives.
The company itself confirmed this change to the Nieman Lab. A company spokesperson stated in a release that the decision was to halt the modifications while dialogue with the involved parties continues.
Furthermore, Meta removed the page displaying a summary of the new guidelines from the internet and posted an update in its business help center. According to the statement, changes related to Commercial Terms, Product Catalog Terms, Self-Service Advertising Terms, and Generative AI Terms for Ad Creation have been suspended and will not be implemented on the scheduled date of November 20th.
While negotiations continue, the current terms remain valid, and the company has not yet set a new date for introducing these changes. Initially, the new conditions were scheduled to take effect on October 30th but were postponed to November 20th due to negative reaction.
On October 28th, Meta's VP of Communications, Andy Stone, had informed that the company planned to consult publishers and industry representatives before activating the rules. He also admitted that conversations might exceed the initial deadline, which would imply another postponement. However, the company has now opted to suspend the changes indefinitely.
Opposition to the new commercial conditions was not limited to the United States. Courts in both Norway and Brazil issued preliminary injunctions to block the entry into force of the terms, resulting from lawsuits filed by media organizations in these two countries.
In the United Kingdom, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched a formal investigation to verify whether Meta was exploiting its dominant position by imposing conditions considered predatory on advertisers and publishers.
In the United States, the proposal also generated questions from parliamentarians of both major parties. At the end of October, Senators Adam Schiff of the Democratic party from California and Marsha Blackburn of the Republican party from Tennessee sent correspondence to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg requesting the revocation of the new terms.
This suspension announced this week marks a significant shift in the conflict between the corporation and editorial sector representatives. However, it remains uncertain whether Meta will present a revised version of the commercial terms or permanently abandon the proposal.
