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# Meta says it may delay its new business terms past 20 November
- URL: https://theainewsfiles.com/meta-business-terms-delay-beyond-20-november/
- Published: 2026-10-28T17:54:33.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-28T17:54:33.000Z
- Description: Meta communications executive Andy Stone says the company's new ads and business terms could be delayed beyond 20 November. Publishers have raised concerns that the terms would let Meta scrape their sites for AI training.
- Author: J E Cowie
- Tags: News

Meta says its new ads and business terms may not take effect on 20 November either. In a post on X on 28 October, Andy Stone, a communications executive at Meta, said the company does not plan to change policy without consulting industry groups. The terms have drawn objections from publishers, who fear they would allow Meta to scrape news sites for AI training.

## What Meta said

Stone wrote that Meta had heard publishers' feedback on its proposed update. His post continued: "We care deeply about our partners and do not plan to make policy changes without a full consultation with industry groups and leaders."

The Verge, which carries the rest of the post, quotes Stone as saying: "We're committed to getting this right, and as we expect this consultation could extend beyond November 20, in which case we'd delay implementation of the updated terms. Until then our existing terms remain in place."

The wording is conditional. Stone said the consultation could run past 20 November, and that if it does Meta would delay implementation. The Verge's headline says Meta will "probably" delay again, and its report adds that enforcement "may be delayed indefinitely". Those are The Verge's words about Stone's post, not Meta's.

## How the terms got here

![Portrait of Mark Zuckerberg, Meta's chief executive](https://theainewsfiles.com/content/images/2026/10/shot2_portrait-of-mark-zuckerberg-meta-s-chief.jpg)

Mark Zuckerberg, Meta's chief executive, at South by Southwest in 2008.

The Verge reports that the terms were supposed to take effect on 30 October. It says they initially appeared to give Meta permission to train its AI models on the news sites that use Facebook and Instagram.

Engadget quotes the planned wording. Meta would have the right to use web scrapers and automated tools "to access, index, cache, analyze, collect, retrieve, or crawl the domains, web pages, or URLs (and any content available through them)" associated with business accounts. The terms would also say Meta "may use any content from such domains, web pages, or URLs to provide, develop, improve, research, train, and maintain the integrity of" its products, services and features.

After publishers and other businesses raised concerns, Engadget reports, Meta changed the language to remove the reference to AI training. The Verge reports that legal experts say the change is still not enough to rule out that Meta could train on the content.

## The first delay and the pushback

On 23 October, The Verge reported that Meta was delaying the terms until 20 November. Spokesperson Daniel Roberts told The Verge the terms would take effect then "to allow more time for us to explain to our partners and stakeholders what's changing and what's not." Roberts said the extra time would let Meta set out "how Meta uses web crawlers and the fact that content owners will still be able to use robots.txt to signal preferences." Robots.txt is the file that tells scrapers whether they may crawl a site.

The pressure came from several directions:

- **The News/Media Alliance.** The Verge reports the group sent a letter to Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, saying the terms would cause "severe harm" to publishers. Engadget, which describes the alliance as representing thousands of news media organisations in the United States and Canada, reports that the alliance sent Meta an open letter demanding it withdraw the revised terms before 30 October. Engadget quotes the letter: "News publishers will be forced into providing their valuable journalism to support the development of products that may be used to compete with them for readers and advertisers, under duress and without compensation."
- **Regulators.** The Verge reports that digital advertisers and publishers in the European Union and the UK urged regulators to force Meta to halt the terms. Engadget reports that potentially affected entities have submitted complaints to antitrust authorities.

## Where it stands

As of 28 October, Stone said Meta's existing terms remain in place, so the new ones have been announced but are not in force. What Stone has offered is a commitment to consult and a conditional delay, not a withdrawal of the terms. Whether Meta meets the 20 November date depends, on its own account, on how long the consultation runs.

## Sources

Moon, M. (2026) 'Meta is delaying its controversial new business terms amid scraping concerns', Engadget, 24 October 2026, available at: [https://www.engadget.com/2296124/meta-delaying-controversial-business-terms-scraping-concerns/](https://www.engadget.com/2296124/meta-delaying-controversial-business-terms-scraping-concerns/?ref=theainewsfiles.com) (Accessed: 28 October 2026).

Roth, E. (2026a) 'Meta delays new business terms after publisher pushback on AI scraping', The Verge, 23 October 2026, available at: [https://www.theverge.com/tech/1017450/meta-business-terms-delayed-ai-scraping](https://www.theverge.com/tech/1017450/meta-business-terms-delayed-ai-scraping?ref=theainewsfiles.com) (Accessed: 28 October 2026).

Roth, E. (2026b) 'Meta says it'll probably delay its controversial new business terms again', The Verge, 28 October 2026, available at: [https://www.theverge.com/tech/1020769/meta-updated-business-terms-delay-indefinitely](https://www.theverge.com/tech/1020769/meta-updated-business-terms-delay-indefinitely?ref=theainewsfiles.com) (Accessed: 28 October 2026).

Stone, A. (2026) X post beginning 'We've heard publishers' feedback on our proposed ads and business terms update', X, 28 October 2026, posted on the @andymstone profile, available at: [https://x.com/andymstone](https://x.com/andymstone?ref=theainewsfiles.com) (Accessed: 28 October 2026); quoted in Roth (2026b).

## Picture credits

- Top picture: An office building at 200 Jefferson Drive in Menlo Park, home to Instagram's headquarters when this photo was taken in 2022\. Photo: Coolcaesar, [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=theainewsfiles.com), via [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:200%5FJefferson%5FDrive.jpg?ref=theainewsfiles.com)
- Mark Zuckerberg, Meta's chief executive, at South by Southwest in 2008\. Photo: Jason McELweenie, [CC BY 2.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/?ref=theainewsfiles.com), via [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mark%5FZuckerberg%5F-%5FSouth%5Fby%5FSouthwest%5F2008.jpg?ref=theainewsfiles.com)