Meta's new business terms widen its rights over your content and linked websites, and simply using its products for business counts as agreeing.
Meta's updated Commercial Terms take effect on October 30, 2026, and there is no signature step. If your business keeps using Meta's products after that date, Meta treats it as acceptance. The new version replaces the one from March 2024.
The terms let Meta, or anyone acting for it, use automated tools to crawl websites and links tied to your products or services. Crawling means software visits pages and collects what is on them. The language also covers links "made available through your use" of Meta products. Read literally, that could include links you share in posts. Meta has not said how far this reaches.
The terms also grant Meta a license to content your business or its agencies post. Contract changes made in July 2026 made that license perpetual. It "survives termination of these terms by any party for any reason." Ending the relationship may not end Meta's rights in what you already shared.
The terms also place responsibility for errors made by artificial intelligence (AI) entirely on customers.
An earlier draft let Meta use content from linked sites to "train" its products. After public backlash, Meta removed that word from the U.S. English version. Legal observers are not convinced. Attorney Matt Topic noted that "develop" is broad enough to include "train." The News/Media Alliance said training is still potentially on the table. Reports say the UK, English and Korean editions had not adopted the narrower wording as of October 18 and 19.
Anyone using Facebook Pages, Instagram business or creator accounts, Business Suite, ad accounts, product catalogs or WhatsApp Business. Personal profiles used only for personal purposes are not affected.
The only opt-out described is for the arbitration clause, which covers how disputes are resolved. Otherwise, Meta says a business that disagrees should stop all business use of its products. For most companies, that is not realistic.
Meta says site owners can use robots.txt, a simple file that asks crawlers to stay away, to signal their preferences. But the terms contain no promise to honor it. Meta has also said its Meta-ExternalFetcher may bypass those rules. Robots.txt is a request, not a locked door.
The alert box above lists the steps. The main point is to read the terms and check what links your business and its agencies share before October 30.
Meta has not clarified how far the link language reaches, so the practical effect is still unknown. Public content has likely already been collected, and removing links now will not undo that. The terms arrive alongside a privacy incident involving Meta's Muse AI agent, though the material does not detail it.
Read Meta's new Commercial Terms before October 30, because using Meta for business after that date means you have accepted them.
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