Automated Data Collection Terms
Effective October 7, 2024
1. These Automated Data Collection Terms (“Terms”) between you and Meta Platforms, Inc. (“Meta” or “we”) govern your Use of data collected from Meta Company Products through Automated Data Collection (“Collected Data”).
2. You will not engage in Automated Data Collection without first obtaining Meta’s express written permission or in any manner that is not explicitly authorized by Meta. The term of these Terms will begin on the date you accept them or otherwise engage in Automated Data Collection of Meta Company Products, and will continue until you certify to us that you have deleted and are no longer conducting Automated Data Collection or Using Collected Data, Meta revokes such permission, or these Terms are terminated as described below.
3. Meta’s express written permission to engage in the Automated Data Collection is subject to your agreement to abide by these Terms, which incorporate by reference the Meta Terms and Policies. For avoidance of doubt, acceptance of these Terms alone does not constitute the required written permission to conduct Automated Data Collection; such permission must be obtained separately through Meta’s formal authorization process. Notwithstanding any such permission that Meta has granted, Meta reserves the right to implement measures to restrict your Automated Data Collection and Use of Collected Data at any time for any reason.
4. Collected Data. For all Automated Data Collection, you agree that:
- The Collected Data shall only be Used for the purpose of (i) providing results for your Search Engine, or (ii) displaying previews of Meta URLs to your users, and (iii) for other purposes for which you have received Meta’s express written permission to Use Collected Data. All other Uses are prohibited, including, but not limited to, transferring, selling, licensing or sublicensing Collected Data and data derived from Collected Data to any third party, including your subsidiaries and affiliates. Prohibited uses include licensing of search indices and caches and commercial search services that provide substantially unlimited queries to a service that includes data derived from Meta Company Products.
- You represent, warrant, and covenant that you:
- Have established, implemented, and will maintain a privacy and security program, including, but not limited to, relevant policies, standards, and practices that, in Meta’s sole discretion, will safeguard Collected Data (“Privacy and Security Program”) by establishing and maintaining systems reasonably designed to:
- Ensure the security and integrity of Collected Data;
- Protect against any anticipated threats or hazards to the security and integrity of Collected Data, including, but not limited to, cyberattacks,
brute force attacks, phishing, social engineering, malware, ransomware;
- Protect against any actual or suspected unauthorized processing, loss, or acquisition of any Collected Data; and
- Ensure the proper disposal of Collected Data, as determined by Meta in its sole discretion.
- Have implemented appropriate technical mitigations to ensure your Automated Data Collection is conducted in a manner designed to protect the integrity and security of Collected Data and will not interfere with the operation of the
applicable Meta Company Products. Such mitigations may include, but are not limited to, rate limiting, technical and operational controls, monitoring and detection, and incident response management.
- You will comply with Meta’s robots.txt protocols, page header tags, and similar opt-out protocols that we implement.
- You will only use IP addresses, user-agent strings, and other identifiers that identify your services.
- For Personal Data Used within Collected Data:
- You will make no attempt to perform Automated Data Collection of Personal Data that is not Publicly Available Personal Data.
- You will comply with the Data Protection Addendum terms available at
https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms/Privacy (or a successor location) (“DPA”). For purposes of the DPA, you shall act as a “Controller” and:
- Categories of data subjects are the Users who visit, access, use, or
otherwise interact with Meta Company Products on which you are
authorized to perform Automated Data Collection;
- Categories of Personal Data is any Publicly Available Personal Data
collected through your Automated Data Collection, which may include
profile information, photos and videos, User posts, location information,
and communications between Users;
- "Frequency of the transfer" is on a continuous basis to the extent
required to fulfill the purpose outlined of these Terms;
- Nature and purpose of the data transfer(s) is the facilitation of these
Terms; and
- Period for which Personal Data will be retained shall be until your
permitted Automated Data Collection and legally valid Use of such
Publicly Available Personal Data has concluded, after such time you will
promptly delete all such Publicly Available Personal Data.
5. Compliance Review Rights and Suspension and Termination of These Terms
- Review. You agree that you will ensure that you are in compliance with these Terms, and that we may review your Privacy and Security Program and your Use of Collected
Data from time to time, at our sole discretion. You will cooperate with our reviews and provide any information we request.
- Regular Monitoring. You agree that we, or at our sole discretion, third-party professionals working on our behalf (including auditors, attorneys, consultants, and/or computer forensics analysts) (collectively, “Third-Party Auditors”), may conduct regular monitoring of your Use of Collected Data as well as implementation of technical and operational measures to protect Collected Data.
- Auditing Rights.
- You will keep and maintain complete and accurate books and records in connection with your Use of Collected Data for a period of no less than one (1) year following the expiration or termination of these Terms or for such longer period as may be required under Applicable Law (the “Audit Period”). During the Audit Period, we or Third-Party Auditors may conduct audits or inspections (each an “Audit”) to ensure that your Use of Collected Data is and has been in compliance with these Terms.
- Audits will be conducted during normal business hours after providing you with at least 10 business days’ written notice (email will suffice), but we may determine in our sole discretion that we require more immediate access.
- You will cooperate with the Audits, including by (1) providing all necessary physical and remote access to your systems and records in connection with the Use of Collected Data, and (2) providing information and assistance as reasonably requested (including making your personnel who are knowledgeable about your Use of Collected Data available for our questioning).
- You will remedy any non-compliance with these Terms revealed by an Audit as soon as reasonably practicable (as we determine based on the facts and circumstances), after which we may conduct follow-up Audits to ensure proper remediation of the noncompliance.
- If an Audit reveals any non-compliance with these Terms, then you will reimburse us for all of our reasonable costs and expenses associated with conducting the Audit and any related follow-up Audits.
- Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, nothing in these Terms limits any other rights or remedies we may have by law, in equity, under these Terms.
- Certifications. From time to time, we may request information, certifications, and attestations relating to your Use of Collected Data, which you will provide to us in the requested time frame and form. This may include certifying your compliance with these Terms. All such certifications and attestations must be provided by an authorized representative of yours after you have conducted a reasonable investigation.
- Suspension and Termination
- We may take enforcement action against you if we believe, in our sole
discretion, that:
- You have not responded in a timely manner to our requests related to
monitoring or auditing;
- You have violated or may have violated these Terms or that your Automated Data Collection and/or Use of Collected Data is negatively
impacting Meta, Meta Company Products, or Users;
- It is needed to comply with Applicable Laws or regulations or otherwise required or requested by a court order or governmental authority; or
- It is needed to protect Meta from legal or regulatory liability.
- We may take enforcement action at any time, including while we investigate you, with or without notice to you. Enforcement can be both automated and manual. It can include, but is not limited to, revoking your permission to engage in Automated Data Collection, requiring you to stop Using Collected Data, requiring you to delete Collected Data, and any other action we consider appropriate, including terminating other agreements with you or your ability to use Meta Company Products.
6. Indemnification. In addition to and without limiting the effect of the “Indemnification” Section in our Meta Commercial Terms, if anyone brings a claim, cause of action, or dispute against Meta related to your Use of Collected Data from Meta, you will indemnify and hold Meta harmless from and against all damages, losses, and expenses of any kind (including reasonable legal fees and costs) related to any such claim, cause of action, or dispute.
7. General
- Survival. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Meta Terms and Policies, these Terms will survive any expiration or termination of these Terms and continue to apply to any of your Use of Collected Data for so long as you continue to Use such Collected Data or any data derived from such Collected Data.
- Severability & Waiver. If any portion of these Terms is found to be unenforceable, then that portion will be limited to the minimum extent necessary to remain enforceable or, if necessary, severed and the remaining portions will remain in full force and effect. Any delay or failure by Meta to enforce any of its rights under these Terms will not be deemed a waiver.
- Disclaimer of Warranties. Except as expressly provided in these Terms, neither party makes any representations or warranties, express or implied, including without limitation any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement.
- Entire Agreement. These Terms and any Meta Terms and Policies incorporated herein constitute the entire understanding between the parties with respect to its subject
matter and supersedes all prior and contemporaneous agreements, whether written or oral, relating thereto.
- Conflicts. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Meta Terms and Policies or DPA, to the extent there is a conflict or inconsistency between these Terms, the Meta Terms and Policies, or the DPA, the following order of precedence shall apply to determine the term(s) that govern (unless such term(s) contradict a requirement under Applicable Law as defined in the DPA in which case such requirement shall prevail): (i) the DPA; (ii) these Terms; and (iii) the Meta Terms and Policies.
- Amendment. Meta may need to update these Terms from time to time, including to accurately reflect or comply with Applicable Law. Such update shall be effective on the Last Updated date. Meta shall use commercially reasonable efforts to provide at least
thirty (30) days’ prior notice to you of any material updates to these Terms. While these Terms are in effect, you agree to review and comply with the latest version of these Terms, and you waive any objection to the means and manner of your acceptance of these Terms that may be specified in or required by the Meta Terms and Policies.
8. Definitions
- ”Affiliate,” ”Applicable Laws,” Controller,” “Personal Data,” and “Processing” shall have the same definitions as those in the DPA.
- “Automated Data Collection,” for purposes of these Terms, refers to the collection of data from Meta Company Products via the use of automated or programmatic tools capable of navigating or indexing the surface-layer of the World Wide Web. These tools may include but are not limited to web scrapers, bots, robots, spiders, crawlers, user-agents, and other automated or programmatic mechanisms designed to access, collect, or retrieve data or content directly from web pages or applications.
- “Meta” includes, as applicable, Meta Platforms, Inc. (formerly Facebook, Inc.), Meta Platforms Ireland Limited (formerly Facebook Ireland Limited), or any Affiliate of Meta Platforms, Inc.
- “Meta Company Products” shall have the same definition as those applied in the Facebook Terms of Service .
- “Meta Terms and Policies” shall mean all terms, agreements, contracts, written instruments, or policies to which you agree when performing and/or that apply to the Meta Company Product(s) from which you perform Automated Data Collection or activities related thereto. This may include any commercial agreement that incorporates by reference these Terms and any other terms incorporated into such document, as well as the Meta Terms of Service, the Instagram Terms of Use, the Meta Commercial Terms, the
Business Tools Terms, and any Meta Company Product terms that are applicable.
- “Publicly Available Personal Data” means Personal Data that a User has made available to the general public and has not restricted that Personal Data with a privacy setting in any Meta Company Product.
- "Search Engine" means a program, algorithm(s), or other technology which analyzes text, images, videos, and other data, sorts and organizes such data, creates an index of accessible data, and, after receiving a particular search request, locates material accessible in the database, and presents the results of the search.
- “User” means the end user of a Meta Company Product (whether a person or an entity).
- "Use" means any operation or set of operations which is performed on Collected Data or on sets of Collected Data, whether or not by automated means, including access, obtaining, collection, recording, organization, structuring, storage, adaptation, alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure, Processing, transmission, dissemination, making available, alignment, combination, restriction, erasure or destruction.