Meta pauses its new terms for advertisers: what applies now
On 5 November 2026 Meta paused updates to four sets of business terms that were due on 30 October, then 20 November. There is no new date and the existing terms still apply. Here is what Meta proposed, what changes for advertisers and what to check right now.
What happened?
In October 2026 Meta previewed new Commercial Terms, Self-Serve Ad Terms, Product Catalog Terms and Ad Creative Generative AI Terms. They were due on 30 October; on 23 October the date moved to 20 November. After publisher criticism, an Oslo court temporarily blocked the terms on 28 October, the UK CMA opened an investigation on 30 October, and a São Paulo court suspended the crawling clause on 3 November. On 5 November Meta said the updates were paused and would not take effect on 20 November.
What did Meta propose and what applies now?
| What Meta proposed | What applies now |
|---|---|
| Advertisers responsible for AI edits to ads, even ones Meta switches on | Existing terms: advertisers are already solely responsible for their ad content |
| Meta's automated software may visit business websites and use what it collects | No new rights for Meta; your robots.txt controls crawler access |
| Generative AI terms folded into the Commercial Terms | The separate Generative AI terms apply as before |
| Acceptance by simply continuing to use Meta's tools | Nothing to accept |
Meta has not withdrawn the new terms, only postponed them, and promised a further update when it has more to share. The topic will come back, so it pays to prepare now.
What should advertisers do now?
- Don't sign or accept anything: the 20 November date no longer applies; the existing terms do.
- Review AI ad variations before they run: headlines, text and images generated by Meta's tools are still your ads, and you are already responsible for their content.
- Decide on AI training on your site: the Meta-ExternalAgent crawler collects content to train models. You can block it in robots.txt:
User-agent: meta-externalagent+Disallow: /. Changes take up to 24 hours. - Watch for Meta's update: when the terms return, continuing to advertise will most likely count as acceptance again.
Which Meta crawlers visit your site?
- FacebookExternalHit — fetches the title, description and image when a link is shared in Meta apps.
- Meta-ExternalAgent — collects content to train AI models; can be blocked in robots.txt.
- Meta-ExternalAds — for ads and business products; controlled via robots.txt.
- Meta-WebIndexer — for Meta AI search and links to your site in its answers.
- Meta-ExternalFetcher — opens a page at a user's request and may ignore robots.txt.
Metriverra shows Meta ad spend and results for every day, so any sharp change after a platform-side change is visible the next morning.
In short
- On 5 November 2026 Meta paused its new business terms, with no new date.
- The existing terms apply; there is nothing to accept.
- Advertisers are already responsible for ad content, including AI variations.
- You can block AI training on your site for Meta-ExternalAgent in robots.txt.
- The terms are postponed, not cancelled — prepare now.
Sources: Meta — Self-Serve Ad Terms · Meta — Commercial Terms · Meta for Developers — Web crawlers · PPC Land — Meta halts its Nov 20 terms · Nieman Lab — Meta pulls down controversial terms of service
