A São Paulo judge on November 3 suspended the website-crawling clause in Meta's revised Commercial Terms for members of Brazil's three national media associations. Meta must also keep those members' accounts running if they refuse the terms, or pay R$1 million a day, capped at R$100 million. The interim order was issued without hearing Meta, and it follows an Oslo court's block on the terms on October 28.
What the court ordered
Judge Guilherme Madeira Dezem granted the measure to ABERT, ANJ and ANER, which represent broadcasters, newspapers and magazines. According to PPC Land's account of the decision, it has four parts.
- The final part of Clause 1 is suspended for members until final judgment, along with anything tying account access to authorising data collection from their sites.
- Members' accounts, pages and business tools on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads must stay active, with no retaliatory treatment for refusing.
- Meta may not use bots, crawlers or test credentials on members' domains, or use that content for its AI systems.
- Breaching any of these costs R$1 million a day, up to R$100 million.
Why this matters beyond publishers
The Commercial Terms are not a publisher contract. They cover any business that runs ads, manages a Page or uses Business Suite. The relief here covers only association members, so a Brazilian retailer or an advertiser elsewhere gets nothing directly from it.
The reasoning travels further than the order. The judge treated the terms as a take-it-or-leave-it contract and objected to acceptance through continued use. He also said the clause sets a trap for businesses that display licensed photos or third-party content, because they would be warranting rights they do not hold. PPC Land notes that this problem is not specific to journalism: any business site with licensed images would face the same warranty.
What is not settled
This is provisional. None of Meta's arguments have been tested, Meta has five days to contest, and the associations have 30 working days to file the main claim. The findings are made at the level needed for urgent relief, not as a final ruling.
The timing may also have shifted already. The order treats November 20 as the effective date, but Meta said on October 28 that it would not change its policies without a full consultation with industry groups, and that the existing terms stay in place until then. The Brazilian case also does not challenge the separate AI Features section, which makes advertisers responsible for Meta's AI edits to their ads.
What to do about it
If you run ads for clients, treat the crawling clause as an open item rather than a closed one. Terms accepted through continued use tend to get noticed only after they apply, so put a named person on watching for Meta's next notice.
Do not assume robots.txt solves it. Meta has pointed to it as a way for content owners to signal preferences, but the court called it a technical directive without binding legal force. A blanket block can also cost you link previews, since those rely on Meta's own crawler. If a client's site carries licensed photography or partner content, have someone who handles their contracts read the clause before it takes effect.
What it means for you
- The order protects only ABERT, ANJ and ANER members, not advertisers generally.
- Meta's existing terms remain in place while its consultation runs.
- List client sites that carry licensed images or third-party content.
- Test any robots.txt change against link previews before rolling it out.
