If you have a Facebook page, a business profile on Instagram or WhatsApp Business, or you run ads on Meta, this affects you. On 30 October 2026 Meta’s new Commercial Terms and Self-Serve Advertising Terms come into force. You won’t see any “Accept” button: if you keep using its tools for business purposes after that date, the terms apply to you.
The good news is you don’t need to be a lawyer to get ready. We explain in plain language what changes, what doesn’t and what you should review this week.
What changes, in short
Meta has reorganised its legal texts: the four documents it had become two. The catalogue terms are merged into the Commercial Terms, and the generative AI terms for ads into the Self-Serve Advertising Terms. For a small business, the changes that matter most are three:
- Meta will be able to crawl your website. If you use its products for business purposes, you give it permission to periodically crawl the domains and pages associated with your business.
- Whatever AI generates in your ads is your responsibility. If you use Meta’s generative AI features (copy, backgrounds, image variations), you are the one answerable for that content.
- Selling with a catalogue has its own rules. If you show or sell products on Facebook or Instagram, the Seller Agreement applies.
Will Meta use my website to train its AI?
It is the question asked most in recent weeks, and the answer has changed along the way. The first version of the text included a sentence allowing crawled content to be used to “train” its products. After criticism from media associations, Meta removed it in the version published on 17 October. The final clause limits crawling to offering, developing, improving and maintaining its advertising and business products, and to the security of its platforms (source: Unite.AI).
A Meta spokesperson said the company is not changing the way it uses crawlers and that website owners can state their preferences in their site’s robots.txt file. But note one nuance: according to Meta’s own documentation, reported by WWWhat’s new, its Meta-ExternalFetcher crawler may ignore robots.txt rules, while Meta-ExternalAgent is the one used to train AI models.
What does this mean for you? That it is a good time to decide calmly what you want bots to see on your website. Blocking without criteria can break useful things, such as the preview of your links when someone shares them on WhatsApp or Facebook.
AI in your ads: convenient, but supervised
Meta Ads’ AI tools save a lot of time: they suggest copy, expand images or create variations. The new terms make it clear that they can get things wrong and that the advertiser takes on the risk. In addition:
- You cannot remove the watermarks or metadata that identify AI-generated content.
- You must not put customers’ personal data into those tools.
- You cannot present something created with AI as made by people.
An example: imagine the AI “improves” your ad for a seasonal menu and makes up a price or a dish you don’t have. If you publish it, the problem is yours. That is why someone should review every ad before switching it on.
If you sell with a catalogue
If you have an online shop connected to Facebook and Instagram (for example, with WooCommerce or Shopify) to tag products or run catalogue ads, the Seller Agreement applies to you. It is worth reading before Black Friday (27 November) and Christmas, when you will rely on your catalogue the most.
What doesn’t change
To put many minds at rest: these documents do not regulate message pricing, templates or the 24-hour window in WhatsApp Business. If you serve your customers on WhatsApp, that stays the same.
Take the chance to review this too
Since you will be looking at your Meta accounts, also look at a change that has been in testing for months: some Facebook pages are limited to two posts with external links per month unless they pay for a Meta One subscription, whose paid plans launched in September (source: Social Media Today). If you relied on Facebook to bring visitors to your website, it may be time to invest more in email, SEO and your Google Business Profile.
Checklist: what to do before (and after) 30 October
- Read the official texts of the Commercial Terms and Self-Serve Advertising Terms in Meta’s help centre. If advertising on Meta is key for your business, ask a legal adviser to take a look.
- Check your website’s robots.txt (it is at yourdomain.com/robots.txt) and decide which crawlers you want to allow.
- Make sure your private pages are protected: client areas, drafts or test pages should not open without a password.
- Appoint someone responsible for approving every ad created or edited with AI before it is published.
- Go over your active ads that contain AI-generated elements: prices, opening hours, names and promises must be correct.
- Don’t put customer data (names, phone numbers, emails) into Meta’s AI tools.
- If you sell with a catalogue, read the Seller Agreement and check that prices and stock are properly synced before Black Friday.
- Diversify your channels: don’t let your visits depend only on Facebook; strengthen your website, your email list and your presence on Google Maps.
Can we help?
At MdArte we manage online advertising campaigns on Google and Meta Ads for small businesses, professionals and cultural projects in Madrid. We review your accounts, adapt your ads to the new rules and prepare your website to receive that traffic. Write to us and we will reply within 24 hours.
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