Meta’s controversial terms of service are on “indefinite” hold, with the company saying it will take the time to get them right.
After remonstration from many quarters – including WAN-Ifra and both sides of the US Senate – the company has taken down a link to the proposed terms, which would have authorised it to scrape the websites of business account users.
An update to its business ‘help center’ announced that the updates were “now paused and will not take effect on November 20, 2026”.
Meta says it is continuing to consult with stakeholders and “will provide a further update when we have more to share. In the meantime, our existing terms remain in effect.”
Meta had said (October 28) that it would consult publishers before finalising its new terms.
Courts in Norway and Brazil are reported to have issued preliminary injunctions to block the terms from taking effect as a result of lawsuits filed by media organisations there, and the UK’s competition and markets authority has opened a formal investigation into Meta, examining whether the company was “abusing a dominant position by imposing exploitative terms on publishers and advertisers”.
Democrat senator Adam Schiff and Republican Marsha Blackburn were among those writing to Mark Zuckerberg asking for a withdrawal of the terms.