Meta-ExternalAgent: share of top websites blocking it
On 27 October 2026, 12.8% of the readable top 10k websites fully blocked Meta-ExternalAgent in robots.txt (bounds 10.2% to 30.4% over all 8,219 websites, 1,657 of them unreadable); 3.7% blocked it partly and 10.8% named it.
Last verified 2026-10-28 03:59 UTC (daily run of 2026-10-27). Proof for that day.
- Operator
- Meta
- What it is
- Used to train models and improve products.
- Description
- "The Meta-ExternalAgent crawler crawls the web for use cases such as training AI models or improving products by indexing content directly."
- robots.txt token
User-agent: Meta-ExternalAgent- Listed since
- 2026-10-26 (in this ledger's registry)
Fully blocks
12.8%
841 sites; bounds 10.2% to 30.4%
Partly blocks
3.7%
246 sites
Name it explicitly
10.8%
706 sites; unreadable: 3,438
Over time
- blocks, reconstructed (Common Crawl)
- partly blocks, reconstructed (Common Crawl)
- blocks, daily observation
- partly blocks, daily observation
"Partly blocks" counts every robots.txt whose rules for Meta-ExternalAgent disallow some paths, including generic rules for all crawlers (for example /search); it is not a measure of targeted AI policy. Shares are of the readable websites (W − U: 8,219 websites, 1,657 unreadable); the bounds assume none / all of the unreadable sites block. Solid: daily first-party observations (top 10k of the Tranco list W3ZV9, one fixed cohort). Dashed: reconstructed from Common Crawl (top 10k), a separate series.
Reconstructed values per crawl
| Crawl | Date | Blocks | Sites read |
|---|---|---|---|
| CC-MAIN-2016-36 | 2016-09-05 | 3.8% | 5,355 |
| CC-MAIN-2016-40 | 2016-10-03 | 2.6% | 5,235 |
| CC-MAIN-2017-04 | 2017-01-23 | 4.0% | 5,458 |
| CC-MAIN-2017-17 | 2017-04-24 | 3.2% | 5,449 |
| CC-MAIN-2017-30 | 2017-07-24 | 4.1% | 5,397 |
| CC-MAIN-2017-39 | 2017-09-25 | 3.7% | 5,355 |
| CC-MAIN-2017-43 | 2017-10-23 | 3.3% | 5,329 |
| CC-MAIN-2018-05 | 2018-01-29 | 3.3% | 5,300 |
| CC-MAIN-2018-39 | 2018-09-24 | 4.0% | 5,768 |
| CC-MAIN-2019-39 | 2019-09-23 | 2.8% | 5,773 |
| CC-MAIN-2020-40 | 2020-09-28 | 2.7% | 5,860 |
| CC-MAIN-2021-39 | 2021-09-27 | 2.9% | 5,914 |
| CC-MAIN-2022-40 | 2022-10-03 | 2.6% | 5,692 |
| CC-MAIN-2023-40 | 2023-10-02 | 3.0% | 5,930 |
| CC-MAIN-2024-38 | 2024-09-16 | 3.9% | 6,065 |
| CC-MAIN-2025-38 | 2025-09-15 | 7.4% | 6,045 |
| CC-MAIN-2026-39 | 2026-09-21 | 11.0% | 5,868 |
Recent blockers
Sites that started fully blocking Meta-ExternalAgent since 2026-07-29, highest-ranked first.
Recent unblockers
| Date | Site | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| faz.net | now partly blocks Meta-ExternalAgent (was block) | |
| zimbra.com | now allows Meta-ExternalAgent (was block) | |
| nova-app.eu | now allows Meta-ExternalAgent (was block) | |
| olhardigital.com.br | now partly blocks Meta-ExternalAgent (was block) |
Sites blocking Meta-ExternalAgent now
facebook.com (*) · fbcdn.net (*) · instagram.com (*) · twitter.com · googlevideo.com (*) · amazon.com · netflix.com (*) · x.com · pinterest.com (*) · tiktok.com · baidu.com (*) · amazonvideo.com · msn.com · reddit.com (*) · skybridge.click (*) · registrar-servers.com (*) · t-online.de · snapchat.com · tumblr.com · nytimes.com · flickr.com (*) · ebay.com · theguardian.com · bbc.com · forbes.com · forter.com · bbc.co.uk · t.co (*) · linktr.ee (*) · imdb.com (*) · canva.com · launchpad.net · reuters.com (*) · nature.com · demdex.net (*) · weibo.com · amazon.co.uk · naver.com (*) · ea.com · netflix.net (*) · nflxvideo.net (*) · washingtonpost.com · bloomberg.com · wsj.com (*) · amazon.de · cookiedatabase.org (*) · name.com · gcdn.co (*) · kwai.net (*) · amazon.co.jp · statista.com · indiatimes.com · behance.net · edgecdn.ru (*) · uol.com.br · ft.com · wired.com · tripadvisor.com · threads.com (*) · netcraze.io (*)
(*) blocked through the * group, not by name. Full list in current.csv.
Cite this
InfraRabbit AI Crawl Ledger, "Share of top websites blocking Meta-ExternalAgent", https://infrarabbit.com/crawlers/bot/Meta-ExternalAgent, retrieved 2026-10-27. CC BY 4.0.