meta-externalfetcher: share of top websites blocking it

On 26 October 2026, 7.7% of the readable top 10k websites fully blocked meta-externalfetcher in robots.txt (bounds 6.2% to 26.4% over all 8,220 websites, 1,659 of them unreadable); 3.9% blocked it partly and 4.4% named it.

Last verified 2026-10-26 21:13 UTC (daily run of 2026-10-26). Proof for that day.

Operator
Unclear at this time.
What it is
AI Assistants
Description
meta-externalfetcher is used by Meta to perform user-initiated fetches of individual links from AI assistant product functions. More info can be found at https://knownagents.com/agents/meta-externalfetcher
robots.txt token
User-agent: meta-externalfetcher
Listed since
2026-10-26 (in this ledger's registry)

Fully blocks

7.7%

508 sites; bounds 6.2% to 26.4%

Partly blocks

3.9%

255 sites

Name it explicitly

4.4%

289 sites; unreadable: 3,439

Over time

Share of panel sites blocking meta-externalfetcher4 lines, 2016-09-05 to 2026-10-26; values between 2.52 and 7.74 %; latest 7.74 %.2.103.625.136.658.16Sep 2016Mar 2019Sep 2021Apr 2024Oct 2026blocks, reconstructed (Common Crawl): 2016-09-05 UTC: 3.14 %blocks, reconstructed (Common Crawl): 2017-09-25 UTC: 3.51 %blocks, reconstructed (Common Crawl): 2018-09-24 UTC: 3.61 %blocks, reconstructed (Common Crawl): 2019-09-23 UTC: 2.80 %blocks, reconstructed (Common Crawl): 2020-09-28 UTC: 2.52 %blocks, reconstructed (Common Crawl): 2021-09-27 UTC: 2.61 %blocks, reconstructed (Common Crawl): 2022-10-03 UTC: 2.55 %blocks, reconstructed (Common Crawl): 2024-09-16 UTC: 2.67 %blocks, reconstructed (Common Crawl): 2026-09-21 UTC: 4.85 %partly blocks, reconstructed (Common Crawl): 2016-09-05 UTC: 5.04 %partly blocks, reconstructed (Common Crawl): 2017-09-25 UTC: 4.91 %partly blocks, reconstructed (Common Crawl): 2018-09-24 UTC: 4.82 %partly blocks, reconstructed (Common Crawl): 2019-09-23 UTC: 4.76 %partly blocks, reconstructed (Common Crawl): 2020-09-28 UTC: 4.82 %partly blocks, reconstructed (Common Crawl): 2021-09-27 UTC: 4.98 %partly blocks, reconstructed (Common Crawl): 2022-10-03 UTC: 4.91 %partly blocks, reconstructed (Common Crawl): 2024-09-16 UTC: 5.10 %partly blocks, reconstructed (Common Crawl): 2026-09-21 UTC: 5.47 %blocks, daily observation: 2026-10-26 UTC: 7.74 %partly blocks, daily observation: 2026-10-26 UTC: 3.89 %

"Partly blocks" counts every robots.txt whose rules for meta-externalfetcher 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: 8,220 websites, 1,659 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, sites readable in every crawl), a separate series.

Reconstructed values per crawl
CrawlDateBlocksSites read
CC-MAIN-2016-362016-09-053.1%3,216
CC-MAIN-2017-392017-09-253.5%3,216
CC-MAIN-2018-392018-09-243.6%3,216
CC-MAIN-2019-392019-09-232.8%3,216
CC-MAIN-2020-402020-09-282.5%3,216
CC-MAIN-2021-392021-09-272.6%3,216
CC-MAIN-2022-402022-10-032.5%3,216
CC-MAIN-2024-382024-09-162.7%3,216
CC-MAIN-2026-392026-09-214.9%3,216

Recent blockers

Sites that started fully blocking meta-externalfetcher since 2026-07-28, highest-ranked first.

DateSiteWhat changed
No changes recorded yet. The first daily run is the baseline; changes appear from the second day on.

Recent unblockers

DateSiteWhat changed
No changes recorded yet. The first daily run is the baseline; changes appear from the second day on.

Sites blocking meta-externalfetcher now

facebook.com (*) · fbcdn.net (*) · instagram.com (*) · twitter.com · googlevideo.com (*) · amazon.com · netflix.com (*) · x.com · pinterest.com (*) · baidu.com (*) · amazonvideo.com · msn.com · reddit.com (*) · skybridge.click (*) · registrar-servers.com (*) · snapchat.com · nytimes.com · flickr.com (*) · meraki.com (*) · t.co (*) · imdb.com (*) · launchpad.net · reuters.com (*) · demdex.net (*) · weibo.com (*) · amazon.co.uk · naver.com (*) · netflix.net (*) · nflxvideo.net (*) · washingtonpost.com · bloomberg.com · wsj.com (*) · amazon.de · cookiedatabase.org (*) · gcdn.co (*) · kwai.net (*) · amazon.co.jp · statista.com · edgecdn.ru (*) · uol.com.br · ft.com · wired.com · threads.com (*) · netcraze.io (*) · usatoday.com · dailymail.com · telegraph.co.uk · amazon.fr · amazon.ca · sharethrough.com (*) · primevideo.com · amazon.in · hstgr.net (*) · imgsmail.ru (*) · fb.com (*) · hihonorcloud.com (*) · dailymail.co.uk · amazon.es · pinimg.com (*) · amazon.it

(*) blocked through the * group, not by name. Full list in current.csv.

Cite this

InfraRabbit AI Crawl Ledger, "Share of top websites blocking meta-externalfetcher", https://infrarabbit.com/crawlers/bot/meta-externalfetcher, retrieved 2026-10-26. CC BY 4.0.