Ten Norwegian media organisations filed legal action on Tuesday to stop Meta from putting new user terms into place that would allow the tech giant to use their journalistic content.

The groups say the new terms, set to start on 20 November, would let Meta – which owns Facebook and Instagram – collect their articles, photos and videos, including content behind paywalls, and use them to build artificial intelligence products.

“The fear is that the companies will use this power to secure rights over journalistic content,” said Lene Eltvik Vindfeld, head of the Norwegian Media Businesses’ Association (MBL).

“Meta uses media groups’ investments to develop artificial intelligence services that compete with them directly. This is both unacceptable and distorts competition,” she added.

The media groups say Meta’s new terms would apply to all professional account holders – including media outlets, companies and retailers – and would give them no choice but to delete their accounts if they want to oppose the changes.

They filed a request with the Oslo district court for a provisional injunction to block the terms from taking effect while the court decides on the main case.

The groups taking action include public broadcaster NRK, media companies Schibsted, Amedia, Polaris and Aller, and Norwegian news agency NTB.

Meta told AFP it had delayed putting the new user terms in place until 20 November “to allow more time for us to explain to our partners and stakeholders what’s changing and what’s not”.

On 14 October, MBL and NRK also threatened to sue Meta, accusing the American company of profiting from fraudulent advertisements that impersonated them to defraud internet users.

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