German publishers urge EU to block Meta rule changes

The Federal Association of Digital Publishers and Newspaper Publishers of Germany (BDZV) and the Media Association of the Free Press (MVFP) have asked the European Commission to review and temporarily block a planned change to the terms of service of Meta, the company that owns the social media platform Facebook, DPA reports.

The change is scheduled to take effect on October 30 for commercial customers. In a joint press release published on Tuesday, the two associations said Meta wants to be able to automatically search, store and analyse not only the content publishers post on Facebook or Instagram, but also the websites linked to that content. Such a measure would affect articles, archives, images and videos, the associations said, CE Report quotes AGERPRES.

For private Facebook and Instagram users, virtually nothing will change in their day-to-day use of these online platforms after October 30. The changes concern commercial accounts, advertising and the collection of online content.

German publishers fear that Meta could use large amounts of journalistic content for its own commercial products without obtaining additional consent or paying for it. The associations also believe that such content could be used in the development of artificial intelligence (AI).

Meta has revised its controversial terms following criticism. However, the two associations do not consider the changes sufficient.

They warn of a possible violation of the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA), which is designed to limit the market power of major digital companies. According to the associations, the European Commission must intervene before the automated collection of online journalistic content creates an irreversible situation.

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