Meta admits defeat against web-scraping firm Bright Data, abandons legal action
“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,” Bright Data said
After a federal judge rejected Meta's motion for summary judgment against the Israel-based web scraper, Bright Data, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram has decided to give up the fight, filing a notice to dismiss its claim.
Meta had filed a lawsuit against Bright Data, alleging a breach of Facebook and Instagram's terms of service through data scraping, despite Meta previously using the Israeli startup to scrape data from other websites. Meta contended that Bright Data utilized automation software to extract users' profile information, followers, and posts, subsequently selling the acquired data and providing tools to others for undetected scraping.
Bright Data countered, asserting that its services allowed users to search for publicly available internet data, maintaining that Meta's terms of service were only violated if evidence demonstrated data scraping while logged into a Meta account. Senior U.S. District Judge Edward Chen ruled in favor of Bright Data, emphasizing that Meta's breach of contract claims necessitated proof of data scraping during an active Meta account session. As a result, Meta ultimately decided to drop the case.
“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,” Bright Data said.
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"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 is also facing a similar lawsuit filed by X Corp., formerly known as Twitter. X claims that the company extracted and sold records of millions of the social media platform’s users in violation of the terms of service.
