U.K. Regulator Says It Will Investigate Meta Over Publisher AI Terms

The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said Friday it would investigate Meta’s commercial terms, citing concerns they may let the company use publisher content in artificial intelligence products without consent.

The CMA will assess whether the terms let Meta abuse a dominant position and unfairly harm businesses on its platform. It is also concerned the conditions may be exploitative for publishers and advertisers. The provisions could allow Meta to collect content from publishers’ websites without permission, then use that material to develop and offer its own products and services, including AI features.

Meta had planned to begin revising the terms Nov. 20, but has put the changes on hold. The company said there was no reason for a competition inquiry and that it would not alter the terms before consulting publishers and other stakeholders.