AI law and the newsroom, November 4–6: Meta takes its 20 November terms down, and India tells digital news publishers to disclose synthetic images
Meta has taken its disputed commercial terms off the table rather than postpone them again, leaving the old rules in force everywhere, while India's information and broadcasting ministry has told digital news publishers to verify and disclose synthetic images.
This issue carries two items, from 4 to 6 November 2026. The first is Meta's withdrawal of the commercial terms it was due to impose on 20 November. The second is an Indian advisory telling digital news publishers to verify and disclose synthetic images.
The Indian advisory is dated 2 November, two days before this window opens, and was published on 5 November. Its own date is given in full below, so the boundary stays visible.
Global: Meta takes the terms down instead of moving the date
On Thursday 5 November Meta took down the preview page for its updated commercial terms. The same day it posted a notice in its Business Help Center. 1
"These updates are now paused and will not take effect on November 20, 2026," the notice reads. "We are continuing to consult with stakeholders and will provide a further update when we have more to share. In the meantime, our existing terms remain in effect." 1
The notice covers four documents: the Meta Commercial Terms, the Product Catalog Terms, the Self-Serve Ad Terms and the Ad Creative Generative AI Terms. 1
Meta confirmed the pause to Nieman Lab. "We're pausing the changes as we continue to engage with stakeholders and take our time to get this right," a spokesperson said. 2
Reuters reported the pause from Brussels on 6 November and carried the same statement. 3 Ars Technica reported it the same day. 4
Twice before, Meta moved the date. 2 This time the preview page is gone: the address now returns "This page isn't available at the moment". 5
The live Commercial Terms page carries a banner in the same terms: "These updates are on hold. The existing Commercial Terms remain in effect until further notice." 6
Jurisdiction: business accounts worldwide. Outside the United States the contracting entity is Meta Platforms Ireland Limited. 6
Who must comply: nobody new. From: 5 November 2026, immediately. A newsroom's business page stays on the contract it was already under.
What is in force is the earlier text. Clause 1 of it licenses the content a business shares, posts or uploads on the Meta Products. 6
The clause publishers objected to would have authorised automated software and test credentials to reach the domains associated with a business account. 4 It also covered the paywalled sites behind those domains. 4 This digest reported the clause on 16 October and the São Paulo order suspending it on 4 November.
Meta restated its position on crawling in the same notice. "Our crawling practices remain unchanged," it says, "and content owners can continue to signal their crawling preferences using robots.txt". 1
That assurance sits in a help-centre page and in Meta's developer documentation for web crawlers, not in the terms themselves. 7
Status: paused, with no date attached. Meta says it is consulting and will provide a further update. It names no timetable and no text. 1
Two court orders were aimed at the version due on 20 November: the Oslo District Court's of 28 October, and the São Paulo order of 3 November. This digest reported both. Each runs until its case is decided. 89
The pause leaves both orders with nothing to restrain for now.
The Competition and Markets Authority opened an investigation into the terms in late October. 10 Meta's notice does not mention it.
For a newsroom, the practical effect is one cancelled task. There is nothing to accept and nothing to refuse by 20 November.
India: verify synthetic images, and say when they are synthetic
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issued advisory No. DM/40/2026-DM on 2 November 2026. 11
It is addressed to publishers of online curated content, called OTT platforms; to publishers of news and current affairs on online platforms, called digital news publishers; and to intermediaries. 11
The advisory opens with a finding. The ministry "has observed instances of non-compliance" with the Information Technology Act, 2000 and its rules by "various digital news publishers and OTT platforms". 11 It names neither the publishers nor the provisions.
Item IX is the paragraph about AI. Digital news publishers are advised to "take reasonable steps to verify AI generated or materially altered photographs, videos and audio recordings". 11
They should also "make appropriate disclosures where synthetic content is presented in connection with actual persons or events", and "guard against misleading representations of authentic news footage or statements". 11
Jurisdiction: India. Who must comply: digital news publishers, OTT platforms and intermediaries. From when: no compliance date is given; it applies from its issue on 2 November 2026. 11
Status: advisory guidance. It creates no offence, sets no penalty and says nothing about what counts as a reasonable step. Its only "shall" is the paragraph on protecting the identity of victims of sexual offences. 11
Paragraph 3 points intermediaries at Section 79 of the Act and Rules 3, 4 and 5 of the IT Rules, 2021, singling out "the provisions relating to synthetically generated information under Rules 3(3) and 4(1A)". 11
Those provisions arrived by notification on 10 February 2026. 12
Rule 3(3) requires an intermediary whose tools can generate synthetic content to deploy technical measures against unlawful synthetic material. 12
Rule 4(1A) requires a significant social media intermediary to ask users to declare whether content is synthetic, to verify the declaration, and to label what the checks confirm. 12
Both bind the platforms. Neither puts a labelling duty on a publisher's own website. The advisory states what the ministry expects of publishers under the Act as it already stands. 11
The rules define synthetic information as content that appears real and depicts a person or event in a way likely to be indistinguishable from a real one. 12
Routine editing is carved out: formatting, colour adjustment, noise reduction, transcription or compression that does not change the substance. 12
At the desk, that comes down to one test. An altered image of a real person or a real event needs checking before it runs, and a disclosure when it does.
The advisory adds one thing as best practice: time-stamp the original date, location and context on archival visuals, and name the source when the picture came from elsewhere, including social media. 11
The ministry does not say whether it will act on the non-compliance it found. 13
The compliance clock
| Date | What happens | Who it binds | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 November 2026 | The European Commission's consultation on technology and copyright closes | Anyone who chooses to respond | European Commission |
| 2 December 2026 | EU AI Act: Article 5(1) points (ba) and (bb), and Articles 5(1a) and (1b), begin to apply | Providers and deployers of the systems named | Article 113 |
| 3 December 2026 | Google must give publishers per-publisher AI impressions, clicks and click-through rate | Google, for outputs shown to users in the United Kingdom | Competition and Markets Authority |
| 3 January 2027 | Google's first compliance report to the CMA, covering 3 June to 3 December 2026, falls due | Competition and Markets Authority | |
| Early February 2027 | Three months from service of the Turkish decision end, and fines can begin | The five Google entities | Rekabet Kurulu |
| 3 March 2027 | The page-level control in paragraph 4(b) of the British requirement comes into force | Competition and Markets Authority |
The 20 November row is gone, and no new date replaces it. 1
The next hard dates
Meta has said it is consulting. It has not said with whom, on what timetable, or whether the outcome will be published. 1
Until new text appears, the terms in force are the ones from before the change, and the two orders stand until their cases end.
The Indian advisory carries no deadline of its own. The rules behind it bind the platforms, and the ministry has put publishers on notice that it expects verification and disclosure from them.
The next fixed date on this calendar is 10 November, when the Commission's copyright consultation closes. Then 2 December, when the EU AI Act provisions take effect, and 3 December, when Google owes British publishers their AI metrics.
References
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- 5Meta Commercial Terms preview page
facebook.com
- 6Meta Commercial Terms, in force
facebook.com
- 7Web crawlers, Meta for Developers
developers.facebook.com
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