NNA raises concerns over Meta's new terms allowing use of newspaper content

Oct 17, 2026

NNA Industry Alert — Oct. 17, 2026
Contact: Lynne Lance, lynne@nna.org

The National Newspaper Association (NNA) is raising concerns about changes to Meta's commercial terms that could allow the company to collect content from newspaper websites and use it to train artificial intelligence systems without compensation. Under the new terms, newspapers that continue using Meta's services could effectively be giving the company permission to use their content without payment.

The new terms, scheduled to take effect October 30, could give Meta permission to access and scrape all content, including archives, on websites connected to Facebook and Instagram business accounts, including newspaper websites as of October 30.

"Our members spend their days covering city councils, school boards, local businesses and the people who make their communities what they are," said NNA Chair Jeremy Gulban, CEO of CherryRoad Technologies, Parsippany, New Jersey. "They pay reporters to do that work. Having a Facebook page shouldn't mean Meta gets to take all of their online content for free."

Legal experts cited by Nieman Journalism Lab say the new language could allow Meta to collect content from publishers' websites for AI training. Meta says the changes simply bring existing policies together and will not change its current practices.

NNA encourages members to review the new terms before they take effect October 30 and continue to monitor the situation for any updates that may occur between now and October 30.

The Nieman Journalism Lab report contains a much more detailed analysis. View the report here.