Meta · Meta AI

meta-externalfetcher

Fetches a page when someone asks Meta AI a question. Here is how to recognise it, verify it, and allow or block it.

Company: Meta
Product: Meta AI
Why it visits: Answering someone right now
How to verify: Name only
User-agent contains: meta-externalfetcher

How to tell a real meta-externalfetcher from a fake

Meta publishes no IP list and no DNS names for meta-externalfetcher, so a visit can’t be proven real. Anyone can put “meta-externalfetcher” in a user-agent. Treat it as unverified, and watch how much it crawls.

Check a meta-externalfetcher visit

Allow or block meta-externalfetcher in robots.txt

Block it everywhere:

User-agent: meta-externalfetcher Disallow: /

Allow it everywhere:

User-agent: meta-externalfetcher Allow: /

This bot fetches pages for people asking Meta AI right now. Blocking it can stop your pages being opened or cited in its answers. Fake bots ignore robots.txt: block them by address in your firewall instead.