Britain's CMA investigates Meta's terms letting it scrape publishers' content for AI without a choice

Every business on Facebook or Instagram signs the same small print, and as of Friday, October 30, 2026, that small print is evidence ¹². Britain's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has opened an investigation↗ into whether Meta▼−1.12% — Meta, down 1.12 percent today abuses a dominant position through commercial terms that could "unfairly harm↗" businesses using its platforms. ¹²

The clause that matters lets Meta collect content from publishers' websites without offering them a choice, then use it to develop its own products, including its AI features. A revision was due from November 20, 2026; Meta has put it on hold. ¹²

Meta's response is flat. "There are no grounds for a competition investigation," the company said. "We've already committed not to change our terms without consulting publishers and other stakeholders." In the same statement, Meta said it "welcome[s] the opportunity to explain our approach to the CMA." ¹²

Meta has already blinked once

The original draft of the terms let Meta use any content from a business's domains to provide, develop, improve, research and train its products. After creators and publishers revolted, Meta deleted the word "train", narrowed the purpose to "advertising and business products", and pushed enforcement from October 30 to November 20. ³⁴⁵ The News/Media Alliance, representing more than 2,000 US publishers, demanded full withdrawal↗ anyway, and legal experts say the edited terms still permit mass scraping. ⁴

On October 28, Meta communications vice president Andy Stone pledged "a full consultation"↗ with industry leaders that "could extend beyond November 20", delaying implementation again if it does. ⁶ Hours later, a Norwegian court blocked the terms from taking effect on November 20 until it has assessed their legality, in a suit brought by Norwegian publishers. ⁶

Record revenue, vanishing margin

The stakes sit in Meta's own filings. Third-quarter revenue hit a record $64.6 billion↗, up 26 percent from a year earlier, while operating income fell 37 percent to $13.0 billion, leaving a 20 percent margin against 40 percent a year earlier. ⁷ The filings show the collapse, not the cause; the timing points at the AI build-out, the one that has Meta shopping for gigawatts in Louisiana↗.

Web content is the one input that still arrives without a bill. If the CMA finds abuse, the first remedy on the table is opt-in licensing, and it would not stop at Meta: every lab training on the open web would face a price on an input it now takes free. No finding exists yet. The arithmetic for shareholders is blunt either way: a fee is revenue, a license is cost.

Two more cases, two deadlines

The probe was Meta's second British setback in a day, after the High Court upheld the UK media watchdog's demand for information on children's online safety. The CMA is separately asking about Meta One, a business subscription that the Federation of Small Businesses says could charge firms to post external links; no formal action is decided. ¹

In Washington, Senators Ron Wyden of Oregon and Edward Markey of Massachusetts want answers by November 26, 2026↗, on smart-glasses privacy, citing Meta's own disclosures that imagery may be retained to train AI systems with human reviewers. ⁸⁹

Watch two dates: November 20, when the delayed terms were to take effect, and November 26, the senators' deadline. ¹⁶⁸ Until a ruling, the crawl continues under terms Meta says need no investigation. ¹²