Grimmelmann criticizes the breadth of Meta's terms

James GrimmelmannProfessor of digital and information law

Grimmelmann says he was quoted in Nieman Lab and calls Meta's new scraping terms 'absurdly broad'.

“Meta's new scraping terms really are absurdly broad.”

Original post

Read the original post (opens in a new tab)James Grimmelmann criticizes Meta scraping termsBluesky post 3mxwnt7wpbs24, 2:09 p.m. EDT

Original post

Read the original post (opens in a new tab)Meta Commercial Terms preview effective October 30, 2026Section 1, Licenses & Rights You Provide Meta; section 7; effective-date notice
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Where this statement fits

Meta defends commercial scraping terms; Grimmelmann calls them overbroad

Meta's proposed commercial terms authorize collection from websites connected to business users and training uses of that content. Meta says the update consolidates existing terms without changing its crawling practices. James Grimmelmann and other legal experts question the breadth of the permission.

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Source and context

Original post

James Grimmelmann criticizes Meta scraping terms (opens in a new tab)Bluesky post 3mxwnt7wpbs24, 2:09 p.m. EDT

About this source

Grimmelmann endorses his criticism of the terms while sharing the Nieman Lab report in which he is quoted.

Original post

Meta Commercial Terms preview effective October 30, 2026 (opens in a new tab)Section 1, Licenses & Rights You Provide Meta; section 7; effective-date notice

About this source

The preview authorizes automated collection from websites connected to commercial users and use of that content to train Meta products. Continued commercial use after notice binds users to updated terms.

Archived copy (opens in a new tab)

Before the quotation

Grimmelmann says he is quoted in the Nieman Lab article linked in his post.

After the quotation

He says journalists are not taking 'crazy pills' about the scope of the terms.

How this statement is classified

Condemned

The label describes this statement's response within the context above.

Why this label?

He calls Meta's scraping terms 'absurdly broad'. This explicitly criticizes the terms under scrutiny.

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Publisher
The Dispute Index
Title
Grimmelmann criticizes the breadth of Meta's terms
First published
Last updated
Permalink
https://disputeindex.com/events/5811-grimmelmann-says-he-was-quoted-in-nieman-lab

Last updated marks the most recent saved version of this published statement.

The Dispute Index. "Grimmelmann criticizes the breadth of Meta's terms". First published: 2026-10-16. Last updated: 2026-10-16. https://disputeindex.com/events/5811-grimmelmann-says-he-was-quoted-in-nieman-lab