AI crawlers / FacebookBot
FacebookBot: what it is and how to block or charge it
FacebookBot is run by Meta. An older Meta crawler that Meta has described as collecting public content to improve its language models.
| Operator | Meta |
|---|---|
| Purpose | Collects content for AI training |
| User-agent contains | FacebookBot |
| Official IP list | None published, so it can only be recognized by name. Which crawlers publish one |
| Same operator | meta-externalagent |
Block FacebookBot in robots.txt
User-agent: FacebookBot
Disallow: /robots.txt is a request, not a lock: well-behaved crawlers follow it. To block by user agent at the server, match FacebookBot in the User-Agent header.
Or charge FacebookBot per page
Instead of blocking it, answer FacebookBot with HTTP 402 Payment Required and a price. Crawlers and agents that support x402 pay a fraction of a cent in USDC straight to your wallet and get the page; people and search engines browse free. Set it up free on pay-per-crawl in about five minutes.
Is FacebookBot reading your site?
See the full list of AI crawlers. Facts here follow each operator's own documentation; tell us if one changes.