Question

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on UK news publishers of Meta's revised commercial terms, which take effect on 30 October.

We are aware of news publisher concerns about the introduction of Meta’s revised commercial terms, which Meta has now delayed indefinitely pending further consultation with industry. This comes in the context of wider concerns that many news providers are dependent on online platforms such as those operated by Meta to reach an audience. At the same time, those news providers are increasingly concerned about having to compete for audiences with generative AI services fuelled by their content. And while some publishers have blocked the crawlers of some AI developers from scraping their content, the industry fears that blocking developers which are more entrenched in the digital ecosystem risks undermining their online visibility in other ways.

The CMA is engaging directly with Meta to establish the facts, and recognises the urgency of this matter, particularly for businesses that rely on Meta's services to reach their customers. The delay to introducing the proposed terms does not, in itself, resolve the questions raised by the effect of them.

More broadly, the Government is taking action to support a sustainable and plural news sector as the way people access news continues to change. We are exploring legislative options to improve the prominence of trustworthy news on social media and have launched a Local Media Action Plan to support local journalism.