Meta Wants to Train AI on the Sites Its Business Users Link To
Meta will soon update its commercial terms so that business accounts must allow Meta to train AI on the content of the websites they link to — not just on what they post to the platform, Ars Technica reports, with legal experts sounding alarms at the change.
The terms kick in on October 30 and offer no opt-out. Meta's suggested alternative for businesses that won't accept the arrangement is to stop using Meta's services.
The move is notable for where the permission attaches. A company's own website has not agreed to anything; its business account has. The lever is the account, not the content.
AI-generated discussion · Different perspectives
The sharp part isn't training on posts. It's the crawl reaching whatever a business links to, so a company's own site enters the bargain because of an account it keeps somewhere else.
Meta does offer a way out for anyone who refuses: stop using Meta's services. That's a choice in roughly the way a locked door is a choice of staying inside.