You've probably heard, at this point, about the big changes coming to Meta's AI scraping terms for business accounts.
asserted
You → hear → accounts
Nieman Lab had that scoop, and since then, small businesses, journalists, and artists using Meta products like Instagram
asserted
businesses → have → Instagram
But if you're in the EU or UK, you might be in luck and can object to that use of your data, as some users have pointed out.
uncertain
users → object → data
Earlier this month, Meta updated its commercial terms of use for business accounts to allow it to “use any content from such domains, web pages, or URLs to provide, develop, improve, research, train, and maintain the integrity of” Meta’s products.
asserted
it → update → products
Many artists and small business owners that rely on Instagram and Facebook are livid at Meta granting itself permission to use their content, including from websites simply connected to their Meta accounts, to train AI.
asserted
Meta → rely → AI
Meta buried this change in its Commercial Terms, and Nieman Lab first reported on the change.
asserted
Lab → bury → change
The update was originally set to go into effect on October 30, but following backlash, Meta changed the effective date to November 20.
asserted
Meta → set → November
Adding to the confusion, Meta then removed the word “train” from a list of allowed use cases, Nieman Lab reported, and limited those uses to “advertising and business products,” where previously it said that data would be used for all Meta products.
asserted
data → add → products
Those terms still allow Meta plenty of leeway for scraping users’ data to develop its products, however.
asserted
terms → allow → products
Several users based in the UK and EU have explained how to object on Instagram.
asserted
users → base → Instagram
On mobile: by clicking the three lines on their account, going to the privacy center, and clicking “object,” which goes to a form that asks users to write why they are objecting to their data being used.
asserted
data → click → users
They received an email from Meta saying their objections were approved.
asserted
objections → receive → Meta
On the podcast this week, we talk Flock CEO’s leaked police conference audio and Sam’s piece about Marissa Mayer’s latest meltdown.
asserted
we → talk → meltdown
Subscribe wherever you get your pods.
asserted
you → subscribe → pods
FROM AROUND THE WEB
The New York Times has an antisocial aversion to linking: Another day, another the-New-York-Times-isn’t-linking controversy.
asserted
Times → have → linking
The specifics here almost don’t matter because this happens seemingly every day, but basically the New York Times investigation about chemical plant polluters under the Trump administration was covered in much the same way by Hunterbrook, a news outlet fused with a hedge fund.
asserted
investigation → matter → fund
The Times article—which led the Sunday print edition—uses similar photos, some of the same sources, and covers similar ground to Hunterbrook’s earlier investigation from February, with no acknowledgment or link whatsoever.
asserted
which → lead → acknowledgment
After the cofounder of Hunterbrook rightfully ranted about this on X, the Times added an acknowledgment (but no link!!!) toward the bottom of the story.
asserted
Times → rant → story
Puck’s Dylan Byers has a good rundown about what happened, which includes parts of a three-paragraph Times’ spokesperson statement explaining at length why they don’t think they have to link.
asserted
they → have → length
This is extremely antisocial, deranged behavior and it’s ridiculous that the Times is still getting away with this.
asserted
Times → ’ → this
Bottom line: I’m sure the Times was already working on this story, what with their massive newsroom.
asserted
Times → ’m → newsroom
Even so, they got beat, and they should link.
asserted
they → beat → ?
Journalism awards need to stop looking the other way when big outlets do this.
asserted
outlets → need → this
This has happened to us many times and it actually does matter for smaller outlets and links are free.
asserted
links → happen → outlets
Let’s try them!
asserted
’s → let → them
TIL that a gigantic military ship, the SS United, is going to be purposefully sunk to be turned into an “artificial reef.”
asserted
ship → go → reef
Scuba divers seem quite excited.
asserted
divers → seem → ?
I didn’t really know that this was a thing that was done, but maybe I’m a rube.
asserted
I → know → ?
A company that promised to help victims of ransomware (for a fee) was indicted by the feds, according to ProPublica and a Department of Justice affidavit.
uncertain
that → promise → Justice
The original investigation that led to this was published by ProPublica back in 2019 but is still worth a read; there are so many of these companies that prey on victims of cyberattacks, sextortion campaigns, etc.
asserted
that → lead → cyberattacks
CIA whistleblower John Kirakou is doing sponcon for Kalshi, writing “I spent 15 years at the CIA trying to figure out what was going to happen next in the world.
asserted
what → do → world
Now Kalshi is finding new ways to put a price on those predictions.
asserted
Kalshi → find → predictions
I am absolutely mesmerized by this microphotography of an inkjet printing, which won the 2026 Nikon Small World photomicography competition.
asserted
which → mesmerize → competition
Ole Bielfeldt’s work is on his Instagram, which is absolutely worth checking out.
asserted
which → check → Instagram
A Roblox scraper has been grabbing more than a hundred gigabytes of data from a 3D modeling community, including more than 60 GB of adult content from a section of the site called “SmutBase.”
asserted
scraper → grab → site
“We don't think Roblox set out to collect adult content, and we have no evidence that any of it reached a model or a product.
asserted
any → think → model
The scrapes were likely automated.
asserted
scrapes → automate → ?
But that is exactly the problem: as far as our logs show, nobody checked.
asserted
nobody → show → ?
A crawler working for a company whose platform tens of millions of children use was pointed at an adult site, and it took explicit models without telling them apart from anything else,” Open3DLabs wrote in a blog post about the scraping.
asserted
Open3DLabs → work → scraping
“For a company being sued by several US states over child safety, ‘our AI team bulk-downloaded an adult site without looking’ is not a good position to be in.”
asserted
downloaded → sue → site
The Aporia
