In October’s newsletter, we explored the threat AI poses to online retailers, as shopping agents challenge the way businesses reach customers and generate advertising revenue.

It’s an issue with implications for us all. AI agents can bypass our carefully crafted online user journeys – and the information we want to share along the way. But control over the customer journey is only part of the picture. What about control over the content itself?

Meta is now under the spotlight over proposed changes to its commercial terms. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is investigating whether requiring brands and publishers to give Meta wide-ranging permission to crawl their websites as a condition of using its business services could amount to unfair trading conditions.

What’s the problem?

The proposed conditions would apply to businesses using Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads, with no opt-out in the terms. They would allow Meta not only to crawl businesses’ websites – automatically collecting their content – but also to use that content to develop its own advertising and business products.

Why this matters to you

First, if you own intellectual property, you have the right to licence it. Arguably, you shouldn’t have to give others broad permission to use it simply to reach your audiences. Second, ask yourself how your content might be used to develop advertising and business products. There’s no guarantee that those products would help reduce your platform spend.

That leaves many of us in a difficult position. We’re experiencing a steady decline in traffic from Meta’s platforms – something we explored in our July newsletter. Yet these platforms remain an important part of how we reach audiences and build awareness. Fewer clicks don’t necessarily mean we can afford to walk away.

What happens next?

At the time of writing, there’s no decision yet on whether Meta has broken competition law. The good news is that the proposed changes are on hold, pending consultation with industry groups, while the CMA gathers evidence and investigates. Meta’s existing terms remain in place.

We’ll keep you posted on the outcome. In the meantime, you can read more about the investigation and what it means for publishers in these articles:

CMA: announcement of the investigation

PPA: what the proposed terms mean for publishers

Reuters: reporting on the investigation

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