I mentioned in the last newsletter I was back on Facebook. I went for two main reasons (although there were more). One was simply to try to connect with more people who might be interested in what I do here. (They can’t benefit from what you do if they don’t know you exist.) The other was to explore the DAR controversy up-close with the group that is fighting the changes and decide if I should renew my membership for another year. I was willing to be persuaded.
In the six days since I’ve been on Facebook, all of this has happened.
Paying for Links
If you want to share more than two links on Facebook in a month, you now have to pay. And you can’t play the game of putting them in the first comment. They’ve locked that option down.
Check out these prices.
Those prices are insane.
Authorizing Meta to Scrape Your Content Anywhere You Have Content
Next, I opted to set my account up as Professional. That meant I could offer a Follow button and not have to accept friend requests from people I don’t know (which has always been a point of stress for me with Facebook). With the Professional option, I could reach more people in a way that works for me. I was truly optimistic.
Then this. Here is how one person explained it.
If you have a Facebook business page, please read and share this before October 30.
Meta is updating its Commercial Terms on October 30, 2026, and one new section gives Meta written permission to scrape your business website.
I read the current terms (dated March 6, 2024) alongside the new version. The website-scraping language is new. Here’s how it starts:
“You authorize us (or any entity acting on our behalf) to use automated software (such as web scrapers, bots, robots, spiders, crawlers, and user agents)…”
From there, it lets Meta access, collect, analyze, cache, and crawl any website tied to your products or services. It also lets them come back periodically to pick up updates.
You don’t have to run ads for this to apply. Managing a Facebook business page counts as commercial use under Meta’s definition. If you have a page, you’re in.
In plain terms, Meta can collect your blog posts, product descriptions, images, and anything else publicly visible on your site. Meta says it’s to develop, research, and improve its advertising and business products.
The terms don’t say Meta will train AI on your content, but they don’t rule it out either. “Developing and improving business products” is broad enough to cover AI-powered ad tools, and that’s how I’d read it.
Meta doesn’t claim ownership of your content. It does want your explicit permission to collect and use it. And under the new terms, if you keep using Meta’s business products after October 30, you’ve agreed.
One more thing for my fellow web designers and agency folks. If you manage Facebook pages for clients, the terms assume you have the authority to accept these conditions on their behalf. Talk to your clients before that date, not after.
I’ve been building websites for a lot of years (almost 20). Terms of service change all the time, and most updates are noise. This one matters. Your website content belongs to you, and you deserve to know when a company writes itself a permission slip to collect it.
Before October 30, read the updated Meta Commercial Terms, especially the section called “Licenses & Rights You Provide Meta.”
Someone else made this point.
Me give up my right to critique and criticize?
Not likely. lol
Meta Accesses Your Phone Photos You Don’t Upload
And now about your private photos…
If you allow Meta (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, etc.) access to your phone, they can access all your photos – including the ones you have never shared publicly.
If you want to read more, here’s an article at Reader’s Digest: Here’s the Facebook and Instagram Privacy Setting You Need to Disable ASAP.
Meta Platforms Changing Ads Run By Businesses to Include AI
And although this one doesn’t impact me directly, this was another big issue that blew up this week.
We’re not even remotely close to the worst and stupidest of timelines, but it’s stupid nonetheless.
So I guess this may be a short visit for me. I already changed my account to a regular one (not Professional). I have my answer regarding DAR. It’s been nice to briefly reconnect with a few people. But it’s not worth the trouble to attempt to stay one step ahead of Meta’s insane, ever-changing policies.
The interesting thing is it isn’t doing that to everyone for forcing you to pay for links. I have an author friend who was being requested to pay for links, but I haven’t been at all yet. So, it’s being inconsistently applied so far.
I wonder if it is only people who have ever paid for ads before that are being asked to pay for links so far.
My understanding is that it’s been a slow rollout. I saw coverage yesterday that you won’t even be able to share links to your website, etc. in your profile information. I didn’t look any further to see if that’s true or not.
Social media just isn’t for me. I thought it might be different if I could use the Professional option, but if that is gone then I give up.
I abhor algorithms on platforms like X and Facebook because they are inherently manipulative. That’s why I like Telegram so much. So many channels and options to explore and NO algorithms.
Gab also has no algorithm, but there is too much dooming on there. I don’t need that in my life.
I thought about going back on Gab just to share homeschool stuff, but I’m still thinking about it.
We’ll see how things shake out after November 3.
And a slow rollout makes sense. It must be a very slow rollout, as the person I know had this happen to them over 2 weeks ago and it hasn’t happened to me yet.
It’s just so odd. I already get practically no traffic from FB (and I don’t really bother with IG, because I don’t want to do videos, and just don’t care that much), so it’s just not worth it.
I enjoy X for the people I know there. But, I’m not so much in the homeschool community there.
And I just deleted my Facebook account.
The third time was apparently not the charm. lol