AI crawlers · Training crawlers

`meta-webindexer`

meta-webindexer is the training crawler run by Meta: Meta web index. Its operator publishes no IP ranges or DNS names for it, so a request carrying this name cannot be verified. Treat the name in a log line as a claim.

User-agent token	`meta-webindexer`
Operator	Meta
What it does	Meta web index
Kind	training crawler
Can a request be verified?	No — user agent string only
In a CrawlCheck scan	Read from robots.txt; reported, never scored

Allow or block it in robots.txt

User-agent: meta-webindexer
Disallow: /

User-agent: meta-webindexer
Allow: /

Add a group that names it: "User-agent: meta-webindexer" followed by "Disallow: /". A crawler follows only the most specific group that names it, so once a group names meta-webindexer, rules under "User-agent: *" no longer apply to it; repeat in that group any Disallow lines you still want.

What blocking it changes

No. It collects pages for training. Refusing it is a policy choice about training, separate from whether answer engines can reach, read and quote the site.

Other agents from Meta

Meta-ExternalFetcher — Meta AI live fetch
meta-externalagent — Meta AI
Facebot — Meta link crawler
facebookexternalhit — Facebook link preview
FacebookBot — Meta legacy

See what meta-webindexer and every other named agent receive from your own site: run a free scan. The full catalogue is on AI crawlers and as JSON at /ai-crawlers.json.

Questions about meta-webindexer

QHow do I block meta-webindexer in robots.txt?

QHow can I tell if a request from meta-webindexer is real?

Its operator publishes no IP ranges or DNS names for it, so a request carrying this name cannot be verified. Treat the name in a log line as a claim.

QDoes blocking meta-webindexer affect whether my site appears in AI answers?

No. It collects pages for training. Refusing it is a policy choice about training, separate from whether answer engines can reach, read and quote the site.

QDoes CrawlCheck test my site as meta-webindexer?

Not as a request. CrawlCheck reads the rules your robots.txt sets for meta-webindexer and reports them. Rules for it are reported and never scored, because refusing it is a policy choice.