Schiff urges Meta not to implement its new commercial terms
Adam SchiffU.S. senator from California
Schiff urges Meta not to implement its terms, to guarantee paywalls and robots.txt are respected, and to codify robots.txt protections in the contract.
“Meta must not nullify federal IP protections and fair market competition through the unilateral insertion of fine print into terms of service contracts.”
Official statement
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.
Source and context
Official statement
About this source
The official release is dated October 26, one day before Nieman Lab reported the letter.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
Schiff's office announced his letter to Mark Zuckerberg on October 26; the letter cites a November 20 effective date.
After the quotation
He requested a response by November 2. His letter states a legal objection rather than a court finding.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Relative to Meta's disputed terms, Schiff condemns their use to extract intellectual property rights.
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More from this case
Read the full caseBlackburn says Meta must withdraw its content permissions
“American businesses should not have to give Big Tech unrestricted access to their intellectual property simply because they use Facebook or Instagram to reach customers.”Read statement
News/Media Alliance demands withdrawal of Meta's crawling provision
News/Media Alliance
“Meta’s unilateral conduct, given the scale and reach of its social media platforms, is an exercise of market power and is anticompetitive.”Read statement
Grimmelmann criticizes the breadth of Meta's terms
“Meta's new scraping terms really are absurdly broad.”Read statement
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The Dispute Index. "Schiff urges Meta not to implement its new commercial terms". First published: 2026-10-30. Last updated: 2026-10-30. https://disputeindex.com/events/7299-schiff-urges-meta-not-to-implement-its-terms