Meta v Bright Data (Jan 2024, N.D. Cal.): Facebook/Instagram terms don't bar logged-off scraping of public data

reference·Scope: business·Status: current

regulatory-compliance open-data

Created 2026-05-22

Quote (Judge Edward Chen, N.D. Cal., January 23, 2024):

"The Facebook and Instagram Terms do not bar logged-off scraping of public data."

Source: https://www.fbm.com/publications/major-decision-affects-law-of-scraping-and-online-data-collection-meta-platforms-v-bright-data/

Then: February 26, 2024 — Meta dropped the remaining tortious-interference claim and waived its right to appeal the Bright Data summary judgment. https://techcrunch.com/2024/02/26/meta-drops-lawsuit-against-web-scraping-firm-bright-data-that-sold-millions-of-instagram-records/

Confidence: Verified.

Importance: Extends the hiQ (hiQ v LinkedIn (9th Cir. Apr 2022): scraping publicly accessible data likely doesn't violate CFAA — but hiQ still settled for $500K) logic from the CFAA question to breach-of-contract — logged-off access is genuinely unrestricted regardless of platform ToS. But: N.D. Cal. ruling, not yet appealed to a circuit court; consult counsel outside California.

Depends on

reference hiQ v LinkedIn (9th Cir. Apr 2022): scraping publicly accessible data likely doesn't violate CFAA — but hiQ still settled for $500K

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