Meta files notice to drop web scraping case against Bright Data

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Feb 26, 2024, 12:45 ET

NEW YORK , Feb. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Meta filed a notice to dismiss its claim against Bright Data, a public web data company, reaffirming the public's right to access and collect public web data.

A few weeks ago, Judge Chen wrote a summary judgment opinion in favor of Bright Data, which rejected Meta's breach of contract claim and confirmed that Bright Data's public scaping of Facebook and Instagram did not violate Meta's Terms of Use. The notice of dismissal ends the tortious interference claim, which focuses largely on customers' use of Bright Data's services and waives Meta's ability to appeal the summary judgment opinion.

This is not a settlement. Bright Data did not make any agreement with Meta or make any changes to its conduct. This was a total concession by Meta to drop the case it brought against Bright Data for scraping public web data on its website.

The judge's previous ruling states that Meta's terms are only applicable to a user who is actively logged in to their account and is using the account to scrape data. Meta's terms do not apply to the scraping of public information while logged out of an account. The outcome of this case reaffirms the public's right to access and collect public web data.

"This concession by Meta is a pivotal moment for Bright Data and the web scraping community. We are thrilled with the outcome of this case, solidifying that public information is just that public," said Or Lenchner, CEO of Bright Data. "Bright Data remains committed to keeping public web data freely accessible to everyone. The internet was intended for everyone's benefit and no single entity or person should claim they own it."

Bright Data only scrapes publicly available data, which is visible to anyone without a login. Meta has made the information Bright Data scrapes available to anyone on the Internet and Bright Data's technology allows organizations to access data to provide information for research and business decisions alike.

About Bright Data
Bright Data is the #1 public web data platform. More than 20,000 customers from Fortune 500 companies, academic institutions, non-profits, and small businesses rely on Bright Data's solutions to retrieve and analyze web data in the most efficient, reliable, and flexible way so they can make faster, more informed business-critical decisions.

Contact
Jennifer Burns
[email protected]

SOURCE Bright Data Ltd.