Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has pushed back to Nov. 20 from Oct. 30 the effective date of its revised Commercial Terms and Self-Serve Ad Terms, the rules that govern businesses that advertise on or use the company's business tools. A spokesperson disclosed the delay to Reuters on Friday (Oct. 23), and the company confirmed it to Brazilian tech outlet Tecnoblog. The new terms add a section on artificial intelligence features that makes advertisers solely responsible for whatever Meta's AI creates or changes in their ads, as well as a clause allowing the company to crawl websites linked to those businesses.

The backlash gained momentum after U.S. trade publication Adweek reported on Oct. 22 that advertisers had found ads altered by the platform's AI without their request. Online bookseller Bookshop.org said an automatic account update enrolled it in a generative AI feature that added a machine-made illustration to an ad created by people. Digital agency Exverus said Meta's AI added extra links, translated copy and generated images and carousels from brand photos, sometimes without those features being turned on. According to Adweek, under the current rules advertisers are liable for AI-altered content only when they choose to use those tools. The new section, titled “AI Features,” states that the features may make mistakes and places all risks on the advertiser.

News publishers opened a second front of criticism. The crawling clause lets Meta's bots access websites “associated with” business accounts on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads. On Oct. 16, the company removed the reference to training its products and limited use of the collected content to advertising and business products, according to Nieman Lab, Harvard University's journalism research center. Publishers and advertisers in the European Union and the United Kingdom asked antitrust authorities to block the change, Reuters reported. In the U.S., the News/Media Alliance, which represents more than 2,000 publications, sent a letter to Mark Zuckerberg on Oct. 22 demanding a suspension. Meta denies that the terms expand its rights over content published online and says site owners can use robots.txt, a file that tells bots what they may access, to signal their preferences.

What changes for businesses

In practice, the delay buys three more weeks before the rules take effect but leaves their substance untouched. As of Friday evening, the date was the only change to the text, according to Nieman Lab and trade site PPC Land. Meta told Reuters the extra time is meant to explain to partners and stakeholders what is changing and what is not.

Under the terms, continued use of Meta's products after notice counts as acceptance, and businesses that disagree may stop using them for commercial purposes; there is no partial consent. Asked by Adweek whether advertisers are liable for features they never switched on, Meta did not answer directly. The company said advertisers can turn off individual Advantage+ features, Meta's suite of campaign automation tools, in Ads Manager at any time.

Agencies interviewed by Adweek have responded in different ways. Exverus pulled live ads to undo unwanted changes; AdCellerant systematically turns off AI automations that are on by default; and Go Fish Digital said its legal team is reviewing the terms but that it will not advise clients to pull back on Meta in the fourth quarter. Bookshop.org has disabled all of the platform's AI ad features.

Nov. 20, 2026New effective date of Meta's commercial terms, previously set for Oct. 30, 2026. Source: Meta, via Reuters and Tecnoblog

“We are extending the effective date of our updated terms to November 20”

— Meta, in a statement to Tecnoblog (translated from Portuguese)

What to watch next

  • Oct. 26: deadline set by the News/Media Alliance for Meta to respond to its letter asking for the terms to be withdrawn
  • Nov. 20: new effective date of the Commercial Terms and Self-Serve Ad Terms
  • Changes to the text before then: Meta has not said whether it will revise the AI section or the crawling clause
  • Regulators: the European Commission said it will ensure Meta complies with EU competition rules and the Digital Markets Act (DMA); the CMA, the UK's competition authority, sent the company a formal letter and will keep scrutinizing the terms
  • In ad accounts: which Advantage+ features are switched on by default in each campaign

Sources

  1. Reuters (via Investing.com): Meta to delay new commercial terms criticised by publishers, advertisers
  2. Tecnoblog: Meta adia mudança nos termos após reação negativa
  3. Nieman Lab: Meta delays rollout of terms that would allow broad scraping of news sites
  4. Adweek: Advertisers Pull Meta Ads That Had Unwanted AI Glow-ups
  5. PPC Land: Meta delays its AI terms to November 20
  6. PPC Land: Meta makes advertisers solely responsible for its AI ad edits from Oct 30
  7. Núcleo Jornalismo: Meta tem alterado anúncios com IA sem avisar marcas

By Luiz Felipe. Edited by Julia Jesus.

Article produced with the help of artificial intelligence and reviewed by the Spark team.