On October 28, Meta said it had indefinitely delayed the rollout of its proposed commercial terms during a consultation with industry groups and leaders. The company said its existing terms would remain in place until the consultation ended, which could be after November 20, according to a statement reported by Reuters.
What Meta said about the delay
Meta’s statement set no new start date for the proposed terms. The November 20 date was a possible consultation horizon, not a new rollout date. For background on the earlier timeline, see NeoTeo’s previous coverage of Meta’s proposed business terms.
Meta had announced a consultation with industry groups. In interviews reported by Digiday on November 3, the News Media Alliance, Digital Content Next, and the Professional Publishers Association said Meta had not yet contacted them.
Why publishers still use Meta
Declining referral traffic does not capture every reason publishers use Facebook and Instagram. Eilidh Wilson, head of policy and public affairs at the Professional Publishers Association, said publishers also use Meta platforms for audience engagement, conversion, community-building, awareness, and subscription acquisition. Those activities can matter to a publisher even when fewer readers arrive by clicking through from a social post.
The reported traffic figures measure different things. Similarweb data shared with Digiday showed Facebook referral traffic to 10 publisher websites was down 5% year over year. Separately, Chatbeat data cited by Digiday put Meta platforms’ average share of global publisher traffic at 3.47% in July 2026 across more than 2,500 domains. One figure tracks a change in Facebook traffic to a defined group of sites; the other measures Meta’s share of traffic across a much larger group of domains.
What the AI-content licensing deals cover
A separate report from December 2025 said Meta had signed seven multi-year AI-content licensing deals with selected publishers, including CNN, Fox News, People Inc., and USA Today Co. The financial terms and payment models were not disclosed.
These reported agreements involve selected publishers. They do not amount to a general compensation policy or, by themselves, show that Meta revised its broader proposed commercial terms.
