Oslo:Major Norwegian media companies have initiated legal action against Meta over its proposed new commercial terms, which have sparked concerns regarding the use of news content to train artificial intelligence models.

According to Anadolu Agency – English, members of the Norwegian Media Association (MBL) argue that Meta's new terms would allow the company to scrape articles, photos, and videos published by editorially controlled media outlets without permission. Major organizations, including NRK, TV 2, Schibsted, Amedia, Polaris, Aller, DN, Mentor Medier, NTB, and Hordaland Folkeblad, have requested the Oslo District Court to suspend these terms pending a legal review.

Lene Eltvik Vindfeld, chairwoman of the MBL, emphasized the need for a legal assessment to determine whether Meta's actions align with Norwegian law. Olav Nyhus, NRK's legal director, expressed concerns about Meta's ability to leverage the content to enhance platforms like Facebook and Instagram, which he argued could undermine the financial foundation for journalism. Nyhus highlighted that terminating agreements with these platforms would be challenging due to their significance in information dissemination.

Meta has recently revised its terms to eliminate language related to using news websites to train AI models. The updated terms clarify that automated crawling is intended for developing, improving, researching, and maintaining advertising and business products. However, the provisions still permit Meta to use automated tools to access and collect content from business-associated websites. An earlier version of the terms had included language about using collected material for 'training' Meta products, raising concerns about the use of copyrighted content for AI development.