Meta is consolidating four commercial agreements into two, effective October 30, 2026. On this date, the Product Catalog Terms will merge with the Meta Commercial Terms, and the Ad Creative Generative AI Terms will merge with the Self-Serve Ad Terms. Meta describes this update as a housekeeping measure aimed at reducing overlap between agreements and clarifying the rules that apply when businesses use catalogs, self-serve advertising, and generative AI creative tools.
This change does not create an entirely new commercial framework but integrates existing product-specific rules into the broader agreements that already govern business use of Meta’s products. It also restates several provisions related to AI, data, and liability in these parent documents. Until the effective date, advertisers and catalog users must comply with separate Product Catalog Terms, modified last in 2015, and Ad Creative Generative AI Terms, effective from May 6, 2024, alongside the Meta Commercial Terms and Self-Serve Ad Terms. After October 30, usage of product catalogs will be governed by the Meta Commercial Terms, while generative AI features accessed through self-serve ad interfaces or the Marketing API for ad creative purposes will fall under the Self-Serve Ad Terms. Continued use of the relevant products after notice of the update constitutes acceptance of the new terms. Businesses that do not agree can end their commercial access or usage.
The previous Product Catalog Terms allowed Meta to modify and use uploaded product information, including identifiers, titles, links, descriptions, images, and similar fields, for advertising, measurement, targeting, and optimization purposes. These provisions are now incorporated into the broader Commercial Terms rather than standing alone in a catalog contract. The Commercial Terms apply to any access or use of Meta Company Products for business or commercial purposes. This includes selling or listing products, creating or using a product catalog, managing a Page or Group for business purposes, using Ads Manager or Meta Business Suite, and utilizing measurement services.
In the licenses section, any content shared, posted, or uploaded by a business, or by an agency or service provider acting on its behalf, may be used by Meta to provide, develop, improve, research, and maintain its products and features. This includes creating and delivering ads, showing users information about products and services, and connecting businesses with potential customers. Businesses must own or have secured the necessary rights to grant these licenses, and the content must comply with applicable policies. The terms also allow Meta, or its authorized entities, to use automated software such as scrapers, bots, and crawlers to access, index, cache, analyze, and crawl domains, pages, or URLs associated with the business’s products or services and pull updates from these sources. Content obtained in this manner may be used to develop, improve, research, train, and maintain the integrity of Meta products and features covered by the Commercial Terms.
Commercial use must comply with applicable laws, including geo-filtering and age-gating where required. Businesses may not transmit information they know, or reasonably should know, concerns children under 13 years of age or sensitive categories such as health, financial, or biometric data, except where specifically permitted by product terms or when necessary to complete a financial transaction. Meta may offer AI, machine learning, and generative AI features to assist businesses in using products or optimizing, enhancing, or creating content. These features are not infallible, and the business is solely responsible for evaluating their suitability and assumes the associated risks. Watermarks and content-authenticating metadata generated by AI must not be altered or removed.
Products are provided “as is.” To the extent permitted by law, aggregate liability is capped at the greater of one hundred dollars or the amount paid to Meta in the prior twelve months. Commercial claims by businesses located in the United States are generally subject to individual binding arbitration, with class actions and jury trials waived, subject to the opt-out and exceptions outlined in the terms, including certain intellectual property claims. Claims from outside the United States will go to specified courts in California or Ireland, depending on the contracting entity. Nothing in the disputes section limits rights under the EU Digital Markets Act, and business users of core platform services are directed to the DMA alternative dispute settlement mechanism. The Commercial Terms also reference the Self-Serve Ad Terms, Business Tools Terms, Seller Agreement, Meta Business Agents and Platform Terms, and Meta AI Business Assistant Supplemental Terms. In the event of a conflict, supplemental terms will prevail.
The Ad Creative Generative AI Terms discuss the generative AI features available through self-serve ad interfaces and the Marketing API. These features aim to diversify or optimize existing creative and to create new media that advertisers may include in their ads. These rules have now been integrated into the Self-Serve Ad Terms, which govern the creation, submission, and delivery of advertising or other commercial or sponsored content through self-serve interfaces, including Marketing APIs, as well as any orders placed through them. Advertisements can be purchased for delivery on platforms such as Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, Threads, Meta’s publisher network, and other places where Meta serves ads.
Some products include automated features that assist with ad creative and order setup. These features handle tasks like formatting, creative selection and generation, audience targeting, placements, objectives, and other criteria. Meta may reject or remove any ad that does not meet its standards. Creative content must comply with applicable laws and Meta’s Advertising Standards. The advertiser is solely responsible for the order, creative content, targeting, and placements; even when automated features are utilized and for reviewing, approving, or removing them. Meta may use or provide AI, machine learning, and generative AI features to help advertisers understand the interfaces, optimize or enhance creative content, create ad materials, or place orders. However, AI features may produce inaccurate, incomplete, or unsuitable results. Advertisers assume the associated risks and must not alter or remove AI watermarks or content-authenticating metadata. Unless an exception under applicable law applies, advertisers may not use self-serve products, their features, or outputs to develop competing models or systems, decompile or reverse engineer them, or use them in ways that violate the Acceptable Uses outlined in Meta’s Terms of Service. Automated software may also access and crawl domains and URLs connected to advertisers’ products or services to provide and improve the relevant offerings.
The previous Ad Creative Generative AI Terms contained specific language regarding ownership and output usage. They stated that, where permitted by law, advertisers retained rights in their input, while Meta retained rights in the output generated. Meta granted advertisers the right to share or use that output on Meta Company Products, while any external use or publication of the output was unauthorized. These terms also required that output not be misrepresented as generated by humans, barred the sharing of personal information as input, and cautioned that output might not be unique across users. These concepts are now addressed through the Self-Serve Ad Terms and the content license and AI sections of the Commercial Terms, rather than through a separate generative AI ad contract. Advertisers should read the updated documents directly for the precise allocation of rights that will apply after October 30.
Other important aspects of the Self-Serve Ad Terms involve billing and payment, including service credits, invoiced versus non-invoiced clients, and the collection of past-due amounts. Meta does not guarantee ad delivery, targeting accuracy, or results, nor does it warrant the accuracy of metrics. Transparency tools may offer information related to an advertiser’s campaigns. Agencies that place ads on behalf of a third party must have the authority to bind that advertiser and may be held accountable for violations. Political and social-issue ads may be displayed and made available for up to seven years after the completion of the order. Claims arising from the Self-Serve Ad Terms are subject to the dispute-resolution clause in the Commercial Terms.
For most advertisers and catalog users, this update consolidates existing terms rather than imposing new product restrictions. Catalog content, ad creative, and related URLs continue to be covered by broad licenses, automated retrieval, and usage for advertising, measurement, and system improvement, including training and maintaining product integrity. Generative and other AI assistance in Ads Manager and related tools still places responsibility for accuracy, suitability, legal compliance, and watermark integrity on the advertiser. This update also serves as a reminder of the structural terms that impact commercial use, including liability caps, U.S. individual arbitration for most commercial claims, data restrictions concerning children and sensitive information, and Meta’s ability to modify or discontinue commercial features.
Businesses that upload product feeds, run catalog ads, use background generation, image expansion, text generation, or other ad creative AI, or authorize agencies to do so, should review the full updated Meta Commercial Terms and Self-Serve Ad Terms before October 30, 2026. When an agency or service provider acts on behalf of a brand, the terms require that they have the authority to bind that third party. Teams should ensure that internal approvals, creative review, and feed governance align with the responsibilities outlined in the updated terms.
