NMA urges CMA action as Meta delays scraping terms

Meta has delayed its new Commercial Terms from 30 October to 20 November, but the News Media Association is pressing the Competition and Markets Authority to secure changes before they take effect. NMA chief executive Theo Bamber welcomed the delay while warning that publishers still face a choice between allowing website scraping and losing access to audiences on Facebook.

The terms would treat business accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Messenger and WhatsApp as authorising Meta to crawl domains associated with the business and any publisher URL shared by users. Scraped content would help develop advertising and business products, which include generative AI. The NMA says local news publishers are particularly exposed, with local titles deriving up to a third of their traffic from Facebook.

The association wants clear, public commitments that platform access will not depend on allowing Meta to use publishers’ content. It points to the CMA’s intervention on Google Search, which established that a platform publishers rely on may not make AI use of their content the price of access.

If Meta refuses to change its terms, the NMA wants the CMA ready to begin Strategic Market Status designation, bringing binding conduct requirements. CMA chief executive Sarah Cardell has said Meta is a candidate for the next designation.