Nieman Lab

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“Forcing publishers to choose between surrendering their off-platform IP or forfeiting a primary channel of public communication is a gross abuse of Meta’s power as a powerful platform with critical access to consumers,” Schiff wrote. buff.ly/3CRF8ov

🚨NEW: Senator Adam Schiff (@schiff.senate.gov) tells Meta to withdraw its commercial terms that allow for the mass-scraping of business users' websites. Following Senator Marsha Blackburn's comments on Friday, Meta's terms have now become a bipartisan concern. www.niemanlab.org/2026/10/a-gr...

The Independent Journalism Atlas looks at “wells” and “springs” in news deserts buff.ly/bJHm7B6

"I don’t think that repeating the same non-explanations for another three weeks will make much difference," said James Grimmelmann, a professor of digital and information law at Cornell Law School. "But maybe they’ll use the time to come up with better explanations." buff.ly/adsXveE

"I followed link after link, figuring surely I would get to the bottom of it, but every source pointed to another source, which pointed to another, and somehow none of them led to the original research I was looking for." buff.ly/wg7E7Cc

Ahead of Election Day, the tool has ingested 25 million TikTok videos and 500,000 podcasts to gain new insight into U.S. voters. buff.ly/v91tt64

When hackers become sources: Inside the new craft of reporting on hacked data buff.ly/blRFRWZ

Facing mounting pressure from the news industry, Meta has delayed the effective date of its new terms of service for business accounts. buff.ly/adsXveE

Two out of five Americans regularly get their news on Facebook buff.ly/EpWhdG7

“Convenings” for CEOs will help Semafor reach a second profitable year buff.ly/YxbtRfA

Meta has delayed the roll out of terms that would allow broad scraping of news sites. New date: November 20. Legal experts and news publisher associations remain skeptical. @hanaatameez.bsky.social with the latest update in our ongoing coverage @niemanlab.org. www.niemanlab.org/2026/10/meta...

The terms were set to take effect on October 30, with no way to opt out, setting off an outcry from news publishers, politicians, and press associations on both sides of the Atlantic. As of October 23, Meta has made no other changes to the terms aside from the implementation date. buff.ly/adsXveE

🚨 NEW: Meta has delayed rolling out terms that would allow broad scraping of news sites. New date: November 20. Legal experts are still skeptical. The push comes one week after @andrewdeck.bsky.social and I first reported how the terms would impact news publishers. www.niemanlab.org/2026/10/meta...

In the AI age, publishers who understand what readers want will do best, a new report argues buff.ly/vSSp1n1

Publishers pressure Meta to nix new terms that would let the company scrape their websites buff.ly/s0vmMpi

Once synonymous with independent writers, Substack is increasingly home to established publishers. buff.ly/npEXtVO

Last week, @hanaatameez.bsky.social and I reported that Meta’s new TOS allows scraping of publisher sites. On Tuesday, our reporting was cited in the U.K. Parliament and by German publishers. Both urged regulators to stop the terms from taking effect on Oct 30. www.niemanlab.org/2026/10/u-k-...

On Tuesday, two major German publisher associations called on the European Commission to prohibit Meta’s new terms of service from going into effect next week. They alleged the terms for Meta business accounts could violate the E.U.’s Digital Markets Act. buff.ly/WGlpsYa

NEW: The Wall Street Journal is using a custom AI tool called "Doppler" to monitor podcasts and social media ahead of the midterms. It uses a database of 25 million TikTok videos and 500,000 podcasts to gauge public opinion trends that traditional polling can miss. www.niemanlab.org/2026/10/the-...

The Wall Street Journal's custom AI tool tries to surface insights that traditional polling can miss. Called Doppler, it has already ingested 25 million TikTok videos and 500,000 podcasts ahead of the midterms. buff.ly/v91tt64

The platform is most popular for women (47%), Hispanic Americans (51%), Americans with a high school diploma or less (46%), and Republicans (43%). buff.ly/EpWhdG7

Newsrooms may need to develop verification standards suited to information of illicit origin, transparency norms that treat uncertainty as something to disclose, and a shared language for the ethical judgments. buff.ly/blRFRWZ

Legal experts warn Meta’s new terms still grant broad scraping permissions, despite language changes buff.ly/ByhIcB2

"We’ve built a big advertising and related convening business ... That’s one answer. It’s not the only answer, but it is one." buff.ly/YxbtRfA

“Remember: always be truthful, not neutral.” buff.ly/4Rr4YCj

On Friday, Meta changed its terms of services after @hanaatameez.bsky.social and I reported they would allow Meta to scrape any website "associated with" a business account. Despite the update, legal experts tell us the revised terms still permit mass scraping. www.niemanlab.org/2026/10/lega...

Preach: “Engagement data can’t tell you what caused audiences to engage, settle a hunch, or isolate your contribution,” the report reads. “Randomization can.”

Update: In its revision, Meta removed the word “train” from a list of allowed use cases and limited those uses to “advertising and business products.” But the revised terms will still allow for broad scraping of websites, according to legal experts. | via @niemanlab.org

In one test, an investigation was rated more accurate, important, and relevant when it was surrounded by community-focused stories (rather than other investigative reporting). buff.ly/kxeTIhf

"Virtually all the new news sources are in urban areas, while rural America is increasingly arid news and information territory. And virtually all the philanthropic support for local news is in metro regions.” buff.ly/NWAaDX3

"I am a direct traffic girly and I know I'm not alone." buff.ly/cnq6QRy

Two creators went to NYU’s business school, then decided to make a show about the news buff.ly/YoQ528m

NEW: After our reporting, Meta removed “train” from its upcoming commercial terms. But the terms still allow broad website scraping and could potentially supersede robots.txt. @andrewdeck.bsky.social and I followed up with the experts: www.niemanlab.org/2026/10/lega...

On Friday, Meta removed the word “train” from a list of allowed use cases and limited those uses to “advertising and business products." The revised terms will still allow for broad website scraping, potentially superseding robots.txt files, according to legal experts. buff.ly/ByhIcB2

Google’s News AI pilot expands to over 400 publications, including U.S. local news outlets buff.ly/vz06X2g

A new report argues newsrooms need to do more experiments — like, the kind with randomization and results buff.ly/kxeTIhf

Does this news change how you’re thinking about your publication’s presence on Meta platforms? We want to hear from you. Get in touch: andrew@niemanlab.org + hanaa@niemanlab.org 📩

Google’s News AI pilot now includes more than 400 publications worldwide, including U.S. local outlets, @andrewdeck.bsky.social reports for @niemanlab.org. 

With the News AI pilot, publishers are paid to provide content that appears in experimental AI-powered features. buff.ly/vz06X2g

NEW: Virtually every news organization has a Meta business account. Meta’s new terms say it can scrape websites “associated with” those accounts — and use the content to “train” its products. @hanaatameez.bsky.social and I on what this means for publishers: www.niemanlab.org/2026/10/meta...

NEW: Virtually every news organization has a Meta business account. Meta’s new terms say it can scrape websites “associated with” those accounts—and use the content to “train” its products. @andrewdeck.bsky.social and I on what this means for publishers: www.niemanlab.org/2026/10/meta...

"Virtually every news organization has at least one Meta business account." buff.ly/DjxUV6U

“Our videos are what we wish we could consume more of.” I talked to the creators of A Show About the News about comedy, explaining complicated stories, and why they traded in secure futures as business school grads for careers in making news videos. www.niemanlab.org/2026/10/two-...

“Virtually all the new news sources are in urban areas, while rural America is increasingly arid news and information territory.” buff.ly/NWAaDX3

In 1996, Slate was trying to figure out what a magazine on the internet should even look like; in 2026, it’s among the last general-interest digital-native news sites, and print magazines are dying out. buff.ly/cnq6QRy

Sinclair’s new Substack repackages its local TV reporting into a video podcast buff.ly/zYmaMYD

“Uber agents,” undercover AI personas, and other ways newsrooms are using AI in investigations buff.ly/ZYTaNXA

Nieman Lab has a new look buff.ly/tvlb9Lm

ChatGPT is adding real cartoonists’ signatures to fake New Yorker cartoons buff.ly/YJ1mAiP

A study of nonprofit newsrooms reveals some cracks in the model’s foundation buff.ly/VDqaVvy