Meta edits “train” out of its US crawl clause

Which businesses do the new terms cover?

Anyone accessing or using Meta's products “for a business or commercial purpose,” unless Meta states that separate terms apply. Meta says those purposes include using ads or marketing messages, selling or listing products, developing apps, creating or using a product catalog, managing a Page, managing a Group for business purposes, using any business product such as Ads Manager or Meta Business Suite, or using its measurement services, “regardless of the entity type.”

How does a business accept the terms, and can it opt out?

By continuing to use any Meta product for business or commercial purposes after notice of the update, the terms' Updates section says. It adds: “If you do not agree to the updated terms, you may stop all access or use of our Products for business or commercial purposes.” Nieman Lab reported that business accounts have no option to opt out of the new terms before October 30.

What are the “test credentials” in the clause?

The clause lets Meta create test credentials to access the domains it covers, and doesn't say what they are. Reviewing the first version, Grimmelmann told Nieman Lab they would technically allow Meta to “sign up as a fake user” to bypass registration walls on a publisher's site. Meta declined to answer Nieman Lab's questions about whether the test credentials would bypass paywalls or other paid content.