Since July 1, 2025, Cloudflare blocks AI crawlers from accessing content without permission by default
Verified Confidence: high
Primary source found; it says the same thing, the scope matches, and it is reasonably current.
- Commonly cited as
- "Does Cloudflare block AI bots?"
- True origin
- Cloudflare (press release) — Cloudflare Just Changed How AI Crawlers Scrape the Internet-at-Large (July 1, 2025)
- Type
- Reference fact: A frequently needed number or rule taken directly from a primary source (e.g. Pew, Census, IAB/PwC, FTC), with its as-of date.
- Year
- 2025
- Data as of
- Announced July 1, 2025
- Last checked
- What the source says
today announced it is now the first Internet infrastructure provider to block AI crawlers accessing content without permission or compensation, by default. Starting today, website owners can choose if they want AI crawlers to access their content
- Method & sample
- Company announcement.
- Drift between quote and source
- Scope: Cloudflare-protected sites; owners can choose to allow AI crawlers
- Interest
- Cloudflare sells the tools and a pay-per-crawl option.
Safe rephrasing
Cloudflare announced on July 1, 2025 that it blocks AI crawlers from accessing content without permission by default, letting site owners choose whether to allow them.
Sources we opened
- Cloudflare — press release, July 1, 2025 (primary)
Machine-readable: /api/claims/cloudflare-blocks-ai-crawlers-by-default-july-2025.json · Last checked 2026-10-16