Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta has delayed the rollout of a controversial new set of commercial terms that have been branded a ‘mafia term tax’ after a furious backlash from businesses.
News publishers had accused the Facebook owner of trying to steamroller through the changes, which they fear would give it the power to ‘simply snatch [our] content for free’. Meta has contested the claims.
The dispute raises the possibility that major media outlets could feel forced to pull their presence from Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, which many rely on to distribute their journalism.
The changes had been due to come into effect on October 30, but the existing terms will now be extended until at least November 20, Meta said.
Andy Stone, Meta’s vice president of communications, said on Thursday: ‘We’ve heard publishers’ feedback… We care deeply about our partners and do not plan to make policy changes without a full consultation with industry groups.’
A Meta spokesman told Digiday the postponement was ‘to allow more time for us to explain to our partners and stakeholders what’s changing and what’s not.’
Danielle Coffey, CEO of the News Media Alliance, which represents more than 2,000 publishers, slammed the proposed terms.
In a letter to Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s CEO, she said the move was ‘an exercise of market power and is anticompetitive’.
Danielle Coffey, CEO of the News Media Alliance, which represents more than 2,000 publishers, slammed the revised terms
She accused Meta of demanding a ‘mafia term tax’ and described it as ‘a significant overreach’
‘Meta’s behavior risks undermining the robust licensing market for publishers’ content and could allow Meta to simply snatch that content for free.’
She told Digiday Meta was trying to impose ‘a mafia term tax’.
‘This was a significant overreach, especially for a dominant platform who should know better when they’re forcing terms on the users who have no choice but to accept’.
‘What sets Meta apart is Meta will still say take it or leave it. Waive your right to copyright protection if you want to be found on my platform,’ she said.
Complaints have been lodged with EU and UK antitrust authorities over the proposed changes. The European Commission welcomed the postponement.
It is not the first run-in between legacy media companies and a major tech firm, as AI leads to seismic shifts that threaten their business models.
The New York Times is suing ChatGPT creator OpenAI over claims it used its articles to train its models without permission. OpenAI denies any wrongdoing and says it is protected by ‘fair use’ under the law. A trial date is yet to be set.
Last week, the World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) published a letter raising objections to Meta’s plans.
Meta, which was co-founded by the billionaire Mark Zuckerberg (pictured), said the postponement was ‘to allow more time for us to explain what’s changing and what’s not’
‘The only alternative Meta offers is to stop using its products for business altogether,’ it wrote. For many of our members, that is not a real choice.
‘In large parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America, Facebook and WhatsApp are the main way people encounter news online, and local and independent outlets depend on them to reach their communities,’ the letter said.
‘Asking those publishers to give up either their audience or control of their journalism turns a distribution relationship into a licence to take the product itself.’
Meta’s proposed new terms cover a wide range of business accounts that run pages and groups, coordinate advertisements and send out marketing messages. The revised agreement states that these partners authorize Meta to use web scrapers and bots to collect data from their web pages ‘in order to provide, develop, improve, research, and maintain advertising and business products’.
Meta had already backtracked by removing the word ‘train’ from the conditions amid concerns raised by publishers that this would allow their work to be used to bolster the company’s AI systems, according to Nieman Lab.
Lawyers warned that the concession might not go far enough to protect their interests. Matt Topic, a media and intellectual property attorney at Loevy & Loevy, told the outlet: ‘I think publishers should remain concerned.’
‘The revised version of the new terms still allows Meta to use that scraped content to develop any “business product.” That doesn’t seem to be a defined term, and presumably Meta is developing AI business products. I think “develop” is broad enough to include “train.”
DMG Media, owner of The Daily Mail, publishes a number of titles that would be directly impacted by the proposed changes. DMG Media is a prominent member of the UK News Media Association, which represents British outlets within the WAN-IFRA.
The Daily Mail approached Meta and the News Media Alliance for comment.
