UK watchdog investigates Meta’s AI terms as Meta pauses them

On 18 October we reported that Meta had deleted a line critics read as a licence to scrape; publishers argue the replacement text reaches Meta’s AI products all the same, Press Gazette notes. The start date has slipped twice: 30 October became 20 November, and on 28 October Meta paused the roll-out while it consults industry groups. Complaints from the News Media Association and Movement for an Open Web prompted the case, which the CMA opened under the Competition Act 1998 so it can move fast. No decision has been made on whether Meta broke the law, the CMA stresses, and its chief executive, Sarah Cardell, said it will be working to reach a “swift and satisfactory resolution”.

Advertisers have their own clause in the paused texts. One section, AI Features, would put the legal burden for Meta’s AI edits to an ad on the advertiser, according to Adweek’s reading of the preview, which PPC Land could not check against Meta’s own page.

Our guide to Meta’s generative AI ad terms, updated today, compares both versions. The Commercial Terms in force carry no AI Features section; only Meta’s preview of the new texts adds one.

So every Meta campaign running today sits under the version without the AI Features clause, and Meta has set no new date for the version that adds it.