aboutads.info: what it tells AI crawlers

On 27 October 2026, aboutads.info's robots.txt was an HTML page or not a robots.txt (a soft 404 or a bot challenge), so its policy could not be read.

Last verified 2026-10-28 03:59 UTC (daily run of 2026-10-27). Proof for that day.

Panel
top 1k (Tranco)
robots.txt
soft404 (HTTP 200) · https://youradchoices.com/
unchanged since 2026-10-27

Per AI bot, 2026-10-27

User agentVerdictHow
GPTBotunknownsoft404
OAI-SearchBotunknownsoft404
ChatGPT-Userunknownsoft404
ClaudeBotunknownsoft404
Claude-SearchBotunknownsoft404
Claude-Userunknownsoft404
PerplexityBotunknownsoft404
Perplexity-Userunknownsoft404
Googlebotunknownsoft404
Google-Extendedunknownsoft404
Applebot-Extendedunknownsoft404
CCBotunknownsoft404
Bytespiderunknownsoft404
Meta-ExternalAgentunknownsoft404
Amazonbotunknownsoft404

Other signals

Publishes /llms.txtno
Publishes /ai.txtno
Publishes /.well-known/tdmrep.jsonno
Reserves TDM rights (TDMRep file, header or meta)not observed
Declares Content Signals (robots.txt or header)not observed
Says ai-train=no in a Content Signalnot observed
Points to an RSL licence (robots.txt License line or Link header)not observed
Answers with an x402 payment offer (lower bound: only the homepage is probed)not observed
Answers HTTP 402 Payment Required (lower bound: only the homepage is probed)not observed
Sends noai / noimageai directivesnot observed
Refused our fetcher (403 / challenge)no

robots.txt as recorded sha256 d03d320f6bad8c25…

User-agent: *
Disallow: /User-agent: *
Disallow: /User-agent: *
Disallow: /

robots.txt versions

FromThroughStateVersion
2026-10-272026-10-28soft404 200–
2026-10-262026-10-26fetch-blocked 403–

Timeline of changes

DateWhat changed
2026-10-27robots.txt fetch: fetch-blocked → soft404

Reconstructed history (Common Crawl)

From Common Crawl's robots.txt captures: what CCBot was served, one crawl per quarter. A separate series from the daily observations above; a 403 here means Common Crawl was refused, not this ledger.

CrawlHostStateGPTBotOAI-SearchBotChatGPT-UserClaudeBotClaude-SearchBotClaude-UserPerplexityBot
2026-09-21 CC-MAIN-2026-39aboutads.inforedirect-onlyunknownunknownunknownunknownunknownunknownunknown
2025-09-15 CC-MAIN-2025-38aboutads.inforedirect-onlyunknownunknownunknownunknownunknownunknownunknown
2024-09-16 CC-MAIN-2024-38aboutads.inforedirect-onlyunknownunknownunknownunknownunknownunknownunknown
2023-10-02 CC-MAIN-2023-40aboutads.inforedirect-onlyunknownunknownunknownunknownunknownunknownunknown
2022-10-03 CC-MAIN-2022-40aboutads.inforedirect-onlyunknownunknownunknownunknownunknownunknownunknown
2021-09-27 CC-MAIN-2021-39aboutads.inforedirect-onlyunknownunknownunknownunknownunknownunknownunknown
2020-09-28 CC-MAIN-2020-40aboutads.inforedirect-onlyunknownunknownunknownunknownunknownunknownunknown
2019-09-23 CC-MAIN-2019-39www.aboutads.infook viewblocksblocksunknownblocksblocksunknownblocks
2018-09-24 CC-MAIN-2018-39www.aboutads.infook viewblocksblocksunknownblocksblocksunknownblocks
2018-01-29 CC-MAIN-2018-05www.aboutads.infook viewblocksblocksunknownblocksblocksunknownblocks
2017-10-23 CC-MAIN-2017-43www.aboutads.infook viewblocksblocksunknownblocksblocksunknownblocks
2017-09-25 CC-MAIN-2017-39www.aboutads.infook viewblocksblocksunknownblocksblocksunknownblocks
2017-07-24 CC-MAIN-2017-30www.aboutads.infook viewblocksblocksunknownblocksblocksunknownblocks
2017-04-24 CC-MAIN-2017-17www.aboutads.infook viewblocksblocksunknownblocksblocksunknownblocks
2017-01-23 CC-MAIN-2017-04aboutads.infook viewblocksblocksunknownblocksblocksunknownblocks
2016-10-03 CC-MAIN-2016-40www.aboutads.infook viewblocksblocksunknownblocksblocksunknownblocks
2016-09-05 CC-MAIN-2016-36www.aboutads.infook viewblocksblocksunknownblocksblocksunknownblocks

Evidence

Every daily observation of aboutads.info is a leaf in that day's Merkle tree. Proof of the robots.txt line for 2026-10-27: audit path (JSON), day root and OpenTimestamps proof (complete (bitcoin block 973493)).

API: https://infrarabbit.com/crawlers/api/v1/policy/aboutads.info