A state court in São Paulo, Brazil, ordered Meta on Tuesday, Nov. 3, to stop collecting and using content from news outlets in three Brazilian press groups without the outlets' permission, including to build and train AI systems, the three groups say. They say the judge also suspended part of the new commercial terms Meta planned for businesses that use Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads. The groups, Brazil's national associations of newspapers (ANJ), magazine publishers (ANER) and radio and TV broadcasters (ABERT), brought the suit and announced the order. They say they represent thousands of outlets.
The groups say the new terms would let Meta use automated programs to access, copy, store and analyze stories, photos, videos and other content on the outlets' own websites, not only what they post on Meta's apps. They say outlets would have had to accept the terms to keep using Meta's apps. The order also makes Meta keep the outlets' accounts, pages and tools working, with no blocks or penalties for refusing the new terms, the groups say.
Judge Guilherme Madeira Dezem set a fine of 1 million reais a day if Meta does not comply, capped at 100 million reais, the groups say. They say he found signs of copyright violation and of abusive contract terms. He issued the order without hearing from Meta first, because the terms were due to take effect on Nov. 20, according to a news report. In the order he wrote that making outlets hand over their work for free as a toll for staying on the platforms "constitutes a manifest abuse of rights," the same report says.
The order is temporary and lasts until a final ruling in the case, the groups say. Meta had planned to bring in the new terms on Nov. 20, but on Oct. 28 announced a pause to their rollout while it consults industry groups, according to Britain's Competition and Markets Authority. It is not clear whether that pause applies in Brazil. The authority opened an investigation on Oct. 30 into whether the terms break British competition law. The Brazilian groups say a court in Norway had already suspended the terms for now on Oct. 28, after a suit by ten Norwegian media groups.
Meta did not immediately comment, according to a news report, which says the company has five days after it is formally notified to present its defense. It is not yet clear whether Meta will appeal.