SHOMEDIAOn November 5, Meta confirmed that revised business terms will not take effect on November 20, 2026. The package is now paused without a replacement timetable, while the existing agreements remain in force.
Nieman Journalism Lab obtained a direct confirmation from the company after the preview page for the proposed terms disappeared. The pause covers Commercial Terms, Product Catalog Terms, Self-Serve Ad Terms and Ad Creative Generative AI Terms, affecting advertisers and commerce users as well as publishers.
The dispute involved language permitting automated collection of information from websites linked to business accounts. Publishers argued it could allow their material to be reused without separate licensing. Meta maintained the goal was keeping product information accurate for advertising and commerce recommendations, not changing how it trains AI on journalism.
After an initial October 30 deadline, Meta moved the rollout to November 20 before pausing it. Associated Press documented the publisher objections, regulatory scrutiny in Europe and court proceedings involving Norwegian media companies. Those developments are not a final prohibition on every kind of Meta web crawling.
Agencies no longer face the immediate contract change. They can review domains connected to Business Manager, archive the currently applicable terms and monitor the next official update. robots.txt preferences may help control crawlers but do not resolve contractual rights on their own.
No new effective date was announced on November 5. Guidance suggesting that the proposed terms will necessarily be mandatory from November 20 is now outdated.
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