European Publishers Call Out Meta for Revised Wording on EU Content Use Terms and Urge Commission Action
The European Publishers Council is writing again to the European Commission seeking urgent scrutiny of Meta’s proposed Commercial Terms and Self-Serve Ad Terms, warning that revised wording leaves fundamental concerns about publishers’ control over their content unresolved.
The proposed terms are now due to take effect on 20 November 2026 rather than 30 October. Meta has amended its website-scraping provision, but EPC says the extensive permissions sought still lack clear contractual safeguards against unrelated exploitation of publishers’ journalism.
Angela Mills Wade, EPC Executive Director, said:
“Publishers should not have to choose between blocking functions that support distribution on a gatekeeping platform and accepting unrelated exploitation of their content.
“Promoting a publication must not mean surrendering control over the journalism within it. These concerns extend beyond publishing across many businesses that use Meta’s platforms to distribute content, reach customers and promote their products and services.”
Meta has removed the express reference to “train” from its website-scraping provision and recast its stated purposes around advertising and business products, alongside the integrity and security of Meta’s products. However, the revised wording does not expressly exclude AI training, fine-tuning, grounding, or the generation and display of answers and summaries.
The authorisation remains extensive covering automated access, indexing, caching, analysis, collection and retrieval of website content, the creation of test credentials and the periodic collection of updates. EPC is calling on Meta to explain precisely what it intends to collect, why that collection is necessary and how the material may subsequently be used.
Angela continued:
“Maintaining a business Page or advertising a subscription should not confer general rights over a publisher’s website and archive. Uses beyond those necessary to provide the specific service requested should require separate, express authorisation from the relevant rightsholder.
“The proposed terms provide no express contractual mechanism allowing publishers to refuse the additional permissions while continuing to use Meta’s business services. Publishers must remain free to negotiate the scope, value and price of additional uses, or refuse them, without losing access to those services or suffering penalties.”
EPC says Meta’s references to robots.txt do not resolve the contractual concerns. Technical preferences over crawler access cannot substitute for clear, enforceable limits on collection and subsequent reuse. Publishers also need to know which crawler, bot or agent is acting, on whose behalf and for what purpose.
The permissions must also be assessed alongside existing warranty, indemnity and liability provisions that place substantial responsibilities on businesses while sharply limiting Meta’s own contractual liability.
EPC is asking the Commission to scrutinise the proposed conditions under the Digital Markets Act and EU competition law, including whether access to designated services is being made conditional on unfair terms.
It is also requesting interim measures, where the legal conditions are met, before 20 November, and an immediate undertaking from Meta not to implement or rely on the contested permissions while that assessment takes place.
Once content has been collected and incorporated into datasets, models or competing services, restoring control may be extremely difficult. EPC says the postponement provides an opportunity to address these concerns before implementation.
Angela concluded:
“Copyright is about control as well as remuneration. Publishers and other businesses must remain free to decide how their content is used.”
