Observed Signal · Oct 23, 2026 · Policy Update · Source: persoenlich.com News · Impact: 3/5 · Sentiment: Negative
Publishers Push Back Against Meta's New Terms
The Swiss media association VSM is opposing Meta's new terms of service, which would allow the US tech giant to use journalistic content from publisher websites for AI training without explicit consent or compensation. The publishers are supporting a demand by the World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) to suspend the regulation, which takes effect on October 30. Despite Meta removing an explicit reference to AI training after criticism, the use of content for AI services remains possible. The VSM is urging the Swiss parliament to quickly implement a motion by FDP Councillor of States Petra Gössi, which calls for better protection of intellectual property against misuse by AI providers. Specifically, the motion aims to prevent AI providers from commercially using copyrighted content without the consent of rights holders.
This is a significant policy development involving a major platform (Meta) and its use of publisher content for AI training, impacting the AdTech and media industry's content rights and compensation models.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- The Swiss media association VSM opposes Meta's new terms, which allow using journalistic content for AI training without consent or payment.
- VSM supports WAN-IFRA's demand to suspend the regulation effective October 30.
- Meta removed explicit reference to AI training but content use remains possible.
- VSM urges swift implementation of a motion by Swiss politician Petra Gössi for stronger intellectual property protection.
- The motion aims to prevent commercial use of copyrighted content by AI providers without rights holders' consent.
Connected Companies & Entities
1 Entity mapped“Meta habe zwar nach Kritik einen ausdrücklichen Verweis auf das Training Künstlicher Intelligenz (KI) gestrichen.”
Ontology Mapping & Concepts
Related Market Signals & Shifts
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Publishers' Associations Attack Meta's New Crawling Clause
German publishers' associations BDZV and MVFP are strongly opposing Meta's new commercial terms, effective October 30, which allow Meta to automatically crawl, store, and analyze publishers' entire websites, including articles, archives, images, and videos, for commercial product development. The associations argue this violates the Digital Markets Act (DMA), particularly Article 6(12), and constitutes abuse of Meta's gatekeeper position and a prohibited tying arrangement. Despite the removal of explicit AI training language, they remain concerned that other AI uses like grounding and semantic search are still covered. They have formally requested the EU Commission to block or temporarily halt implementation, describing the terms as 'blatant theft' and calling for an injunction to prevent irreversible effects before the EU completes its review.
Meta Removes Language on Scraping and AI Training
Publisher trade groups worldwide are pressuring Meta to alter its planned terms of service, effective October 30, that would allow AI scraping of their content. The initial provision enabled Meta to use content from business accounts' domains, prompting legal concerns. After backlash, Meta removed the contentious language from English terms but retained it in German. Despite declining referral traffic, publishers admit they cannot easily leave Meta due to reliance on it for audience engagement, branded content, and subscriptions, with Meta accounting for 3.47% of global publisher traffic in July 2026. They are considering regulatory actions, such as the UK CMA's Strategic Market Status investigation, to force change. Publishers argue they lack practical opt-out without losing audience access and worry about undermining AI licensing deals. Meta clarifies that web crawling remains governed by robots.txt and that publishers can block crawlers, but publishers contend this harms distribution.
Meta's new terms make advertisers liable for AI ad edits
Meta is updating its Commercial Terms effective October 30, 2026, introducing a new 'AI Features' section that makes advertisers solely responsible for AI-generated ad content, even if features are enabled automatically. Advertisers like Bookshop.org and agencies report unwanted AI modifications, such as added sitelinks and images, raising brand safety risks. Additionally, Meta faces regulatory scrutiny over AI content scraping. In other industry news, Axel Springer shows interest in a European TikTok spinoff, M6 launches a self-serve ad platform, Omnicom reports Q3 growth and plans acquisitions, Netflix cuts its ad forecast, The Trade Desk partners with Netflix, and ProSieben sells glomex.
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