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Meta drops 'train' clause from new business terms after backlash

Publishers and legal experts said the wording could let Meta scrape news sites to train its AI. The social media giant says the revised, 30 October terms change nothing about how it crawls the web.

ScrollBeat DeskPublished: 18 Oct 2026, 08:33Updated: 18 Oct 2026, 08:33

The Meta Platforms logo. The company says it removed the word "train" from its new commercial terms after publishers and legal experts raised concerns. Meta Platforms logo via Wikimedia Commons

Meta has removed a contested clause from its new commercial terms of use that would have let it use content from business customers' linked websites to 'train' its products, after publishers and legal experts warned the wording could open the door to scraping news sites for artificial intelligence.

The terms, due to take effect on 30 October, cover businesses that use Meta's advertising, Pages, apps and Business Suite. An earlier version said Meta could use automated software to crawl the domains, web pages and URLs 'associated with' those accounts and use any content found there to develop, improve, research and train its products.

Legal experts who reviewed the draft for the Nieman Journalism Lab said it could be read as permission for Meta to scrape publishers' sites and train AI, and possibly to override the blocking instructions that sites set in their robots.txt files. The News/Media Alliance called the approach an abuse of market power.

Meta says its practice will not change. 'We've heard you and want to clarify: the crawling terms we consolidated only applied to our ads and business products, and we've clarified that in the terms themselves,' a company spokesperson, Daniel Roberts, said. Content owners can still signal their preferences through the robots.txt file, he said.

The company's vice-president of communications, Andy Stone, said the update was designed to pull accurate information about products sold on third-party websites for advertising and content recommendations, and was not aimed at scraping news sites.

Meta consolidated several older policies into the commercial terms, which businesses must accept to keep using its advertising and marketing tools. Publishers have been pressing technology companies to pay licences for AI training on their content.

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NBR extends e-VAT return deadline to 25 October

Businesses that have not yet filed value-added tax returns for July-September get ten more days, with no interest or penalty, as the revenue board adjusts its online system.

ScrollBeat Desk18 Oct 2026, 09:42Open this article

File photo of the commercial district at Motijheel in Dhaka, where many businesses registered for VAT operate. Photo: ASaber91 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0. ASaber91 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

The National Board of Revenue has extended the deadline for businesses to submit their online value-added tax (VAT) returns for the July-September 2026 tax periods to 25 October, without interest or penalties.

The first-quarter deadline had been 15 October. In a notice, the revenue authority said the extension was granted in the public interest to give it time to make the changes needed in its electronic VAT system after amendments to the VAT law in the national budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year.

The budget changes mean returns must again be filed within 15 days of the end of each tax period, replacing a provision that had allowed businesses to file and pay every three tax periods. The NBR said the switch required administrative adjustments to the eVAT platform, where most businesses file.

On 1 October, the NBR had already extended the July and August returns to 15 October under Section 64(3) of the Value Added Tax and Supplementary Duty Act, 2012, also without penalty, because many businesses had deferred filing while the quarterly rule was in force. Under the reinstated monthly system, the returns for July, August and September are now due together.

Taxpayers who have not yet filed can complete their returns for all three tax periods through the eVAT system by 25 October, the notice said.

NEXT STORY World

Pakistan's PM Shehbaz Sharif defends emergency rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

The prime minister and his brother Nawaz Sharif say the Centre was left with no choice but to act over security in the province, as parliament endorses the move and PTI challenges it in court.

ScrollBeat Desk18 Oct 2026, 09:42Open this article

Official portrait of Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (2017). Photo: Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, CC BY 2.0. Wikimedia Commons / Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has defended the federal government's decision to impose emergency and governor's rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, saying the Centre had been "compelled" to act over security concerns after talks with the opposition failed.

Speaking in Gujranwala on Saturday, the prime minister said the government had made a "last attempt" to avoid the step, pointing to two rounds of talks between a joint government and Pakistan Peoples Party delegation and the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. The second round, on 3 October, ended without a breakthrough, although he said a draft agreement had been prepared under which PTI would call off its protest march.

"They had talks with them day and night, for 48 hours," Shehbaz Sharif said, adding that he had met Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi and his predecessor, Ali Amin Gandapur, several times to offer the province support in fighting militancy.

The federal government imposed emergency and governor's rule in the northwestern province on 11 October, citing what it called the provincial administration's deliberate disengagement from the fight against terrorism. Parliament endorsed the measures this week at a joint sitting, where opposition lawmakers protested with placards reading "Emergency na manzoor" (emergency is unacceptable).

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz president Nawaz Sharif, a former prime minister, backed the move and said the intervention should have come much earlier. "This intervention was necessary to restore peace, improve governance and protect the interests of the people," he was quoted as saying, accusing PTI of using provincial resources for political confrontation with the federation.

Under the new arrangement, Governor Faisal Karim Kundi is running the province with the help of an 11-member advisory council, while Parliament exercises the powers of the provincial assembly. The federal law minister has said the arrangement will initially remain in place for six months. Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Mehmood Khan Achakzai blamed what he called faulty decisions by the country's rulers for the situation.

The measures followed weeks of tension after PTI announced a long march to Islamabad demanding the release of its jailed founder, Imran Khan, and access to his personal doctors. PTI has challenged the emergency and governor's rule in the Peshawar High Court, calling them unconstitutional and discriminatory, and says the province's elected government should be restored.

Amnesty International has raised concerns about reports of arbitrary detentions of political leaders and internet disruptions in the province, warning that emergency measures must not be used to suppress dissent and calling for independent oversight. Under Pakistan's Constitution, an emergency declared without a resolution from a provincial assembly must be approved by both houses of Parliament within 10 days, and governor's rule can be extended in two-month periods up to a maximum of six months.