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The Washington Post
washingtonpost.comBlocks some
Its robots.txt (the public rules file for bots) treats AI bots differently from each other. It blocks 8 of the 24 AI bots we track from the whole site, including ClaudeBot, Applebot-Extended, CCBot, Meta-ExternalAgent and PerplexityBot. GPTBot, Google-Extended, OAI-SearchBot, Claude-SearchBot and 3 more can reach most of it.
Last checked 19 Oct 2026. Rules file read today. Everything we checked · History
Bots that train AI Some blocked
5 of 9 blocked
Blocking these keeps the site out of future AI training. It does not stop AI from reading the site to answer questions.
Bots for AI search Some blocked
2 of 8 blocked
Blocking these usually means the site stops showing up as a source in AI answers.
AI assistants Some blocked
1 of 7 blocked
5 of these 7 companies say their assistants may ignore robots.txt.
Bot by bot
| AI bot | Allowed? | Where the rule is | Company says it follows robots.txt? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bots that train AI · Some blocked | |||
| GPTBotOpenAI | Allowed | Not named; the catch-all rule applies | Says yes |
| ClaudeBotAnthropic | Blocked | Named, line 177 | Says yes |
| Google-ExtendedGoogle · opt-out name, not a bot | Allowed | Not named; the catch-all rule applies | Says yes |
| Applebot-ExtendedApple · opt-out name, not a bot | Blocked | Named, line 142 | Says yes |
| CCBotCommon Crawl | Blocked | Named, line 167 | Says yes |
| Meta-ExternalAgentMeta | Blocked | Named, line 218 | Suggests yes |
| BytespiderByteDance | Blocked | Named, line 162 | No statement found |
| MistralAI-TrainingMistral AI | Allowed | Not named; the catch-all rule applies | Says yes |
| AI2BotAllen Institute for AI | Allowed | Not named; the catch-all rule applies | Does not say |
| anthropic-aiAnthropic (legacy) · old name | Blocked | Named, line 137 | Unknown |
| Bots for AI search · Some blocked | |||
| OAI-SearchBotOpenAI | Allowed | Not named; the catch-all rule applies | Says yes |
| Claude-SearchBotAnthropic | Allowed | Not named; the catch-all rule applies | Says yes |
| PerplexityBotPerplexity | Blocked | Named, line 241 | Suggests yes |
| AmazonbotAmazon | Blocked | Named, line 127 | Says yes |
| Amzn-SearchBotAmazon | Allowed | Not named; the catch-all rule applies | Says yes |
| DuckAssistBotDuckDuckGo | Allowed | Not named; the catch-all rule applies | Says yes |
| MistralAI-IndexMistral AI | Allowed | Not named; the catch-all rule applies | Suggests yes |
| Meta-WebIndexerMeta | Allowed | Not named; the catch-all rule applies | Suggests yes |
| AI assistants · Some blocked | |||
| ChatGPT-UserOpenAI | Allowed | Not named; the catch-all rule applies | Says not always |
| Claude-UserAnthropic | Allowed | Not named; the catch-all rule applies | Says yes |
| Perplexity-UserPerplexity | Allowed | Not named; the catch-all rule applies | Says it mostly ignores it |
| Google-AgentGoogle | Allowed | Not named; the catch-all rule applies | Says it mostly ignores it |
| Meta-ExternalFetcherMeta | Blocked | Named, line 223 | Says not always |
| Amzn-UserAmazon | Allowed | Not named; the catch-all rule applies | Says not always |
| MistralAI-UserMistral AI | Allowed | Not named; the catch-all rule applies | Suggests yes |
| For comparison | |||
| GooglebotRegular search engine, for comparison | Allowed | Not named; the catch-all rule applies | |
| BingbotRegular search engine, for comparison | Allowed | Not named; the catch-all rule applies | |
Other AI names in this file
Names in this file that are not among the 24 bots we track. A rule for a name no real bot uses blocks nothing, but it shows which names the site has added.
| Claude-Web | Blocked | line 172 | Not in our verified list |
| cohere-training-data-crawler | Blocked | line 182 | Not in our verified list |
| Diffbot | Blocked | line 190 | Documented by its operator |
| FacebookBot | Blocked | line 198 | Not in our verified list |
| ImagesiftBot | Blocked | line 212 | Not in our verified list |
| omgili | Blocked | line 231 | Not in our verified list |
| omgilibot | Blocked | line 236 | Not in our verified list |
We test two pages: the homepage, and a made-up page that stands in for the rest of the site. "Blocked" means both are off limits. "Some pages blocked" means only one is. Rules for search results, carts, checkout and accounts don't change these labels, because almost every site keeps all bots out of those pages.
The rules file (robots.txt)
User-agent: *Disallow: /*_print.htmlDisallow: /*_email.htmlDisallow: /*_singlePage.htmlDisallow: /*_allComments.htmlDisallow: /*_jsn.jsonDisallow: /*_jsonpStatic.jsDisallow: /*_nitf.xmlDisallow: /*_newsml.htmlDisallow: /*_qa.htmlDisallow: /*_meta.xmlDisallow: /*_jsnp.jsDisallow: /*_json.jsonDisallow: /*_search.htmlDisallow: /*_jsonp.jsDisallow: /*_jsnpStatic.jsDisallow: /*_rss.xmlDisallow: /*_mobile.mobileDisallow: /*_mobile.xmlDisallow: /*_allCommentsClassicBlog.htmlDisallow: /*_seo.htmlDisallow: /*_nimbusJson.jsonDisallow: /*_nimbusJsonp.jsDisallow: /*_nimbusJsonpStatic.jsDisallow: /*_modal.htmlDisallow: /todays_paper/Disallow: /rw/WashingtonPost/Content/Epaper/Disallow: /ac2/Disallow: /blogs/slow-ride/Disallow: /local/blogsandcolumns/slow-ride-story-tankedDisallow: /local/blogsandcolumns/slow-ride-story-achenblogDisallow: /local/blogsandcolumns/slow-ride-stream-tankedDisallow: /local/blogsandcolumns/slow-ride-frontDisallow: /utils/Disallow: /jobs/JS_JobSearchResultDisallow: /jobs/UpdateJobEmployerCounterServletDisallow: /jobs/JS_LoginDisallow: /jobs/EU_UpdateJobEmployerCounterDisallow: /blogs/nationals-journal-beta/Disallow: /blogs/test/Disallow: /posttv-beta/Disallow: /posttv/sponsored-video/Disallow: /posttv/c/trendex/Disallow: /posttv/c/video_search/Disallow: /posttv/posttv/trendexDisallow: /posttv/c/embed/Disallow: /rweb/Disallow: /wp-stat/vrroom/Disallow: /classic-apps/Disallow: /news/test/Disallow: /tablet/Disallow: /news/tablet/Disallow: /sf/test/Disallow: /news/test-liveblog/Disallow: /pb/Allow: /pb/resources/Allow: /pb/gr/Allow: /pb/resource/Disallow: /homepage-video-testDisallow: /testpage-forhomepageDisallow: /knowmoreDisallow: /test/Disallow: /sslsingleDisallow: /amphtml/news/test/Disallow: /amphtml/blogs/test/Disallow: /amphtml/classic-apps/Disallow: /amphtml/utils/Disallow: /newsletter/Disallow: /wp-dyn/Disallow: /wp-srv/Disallow: /bandito/Disallow: /Fragment/SysConfig/Disallow: /recipes/search/Disallow: /talk/Disallow: /wp-stat/ad/Disallow: /*?*outputType=commentDisallow: /pwapi-proxy/pwproxy/*Disallow: /pwapiv2/Disallow: /*?*outputType=accessibilityDisallow: /wp-adv/Disallow: /newssearch/Disallow: /wp-admin/Disallow: /gdpr-consent/Disallow: /*?*outputType=trackingDisallow: /tetro/Disallow: /comments/Disallow: /commentsDisallow: /searchDisallow: /s/*Disallow: /embed/Disallow: /native/Disallow: /subscribe/braintree/Disallow: /subscribe/enterpriseportal/Disallow: /subscribe/foryouapi/Disallow: /subscribe/lagoon/Disallow: /subscribe/offers/service/Disallow: /subscribe/onsiteapi/Disallow: /subscribe/paywall/Disallow: /subscribe/person/Disallow: /subscribe/preferenceapi/Disallow: /subscribe/subscriptionapi/Disallow: /subscribe/user/Disallow: /subscribe/signin/Disallow: /subscribe/signup/Disallow: /wpost/proxyDisallow: /ehf/Disallow: /ehf/*Disallow: /subscribe/logging/*Disallow: /blogs/*Disallow: /gog/*Disallow: /arcio/fact-checker/Disallow: /recipes/*?q=Disallow: /cookie-policy/Disallow: /discussions/2021/09/13/cookie-policy/Disallow: /discussions/2021/09/13/cookie-policy-eea/Disallow: /privacy-policy/Disallow: /partials/ User-agent: TwitterbotAllow: /posttv-beta/Disallow: /amphtml/* User-agent: SemrushBotDisallow: /licensing-syndicationDisallow: /licensing-syndication/*… 125 lines not about AI bots User-agent: AmazonbotDisallow: /Allow: /wp-apps/imrs.php # Disallow Rules User-agent: AhrefsBotDisallow: /… 5 lines not about AI bots User-agent: anthropic-aiDisallow: /Allow: /creativegroup/Allow: /advertising/ User-agent: Applebot-ExtendedDisallow: /Allow: /creativegroup/Allow: /advertising/ User-agent: archive.org_botDisallow: / User-agent: ArchiveBotDisallow: / User-agent: Arquivo-web-crawlerDisallow: / User-agent: AwarioRssBotDisallow: / User-agent: AwarioSmartBotDisallow: /… 14 lines not about AI bots User-agent: BytespiderDisallow: /Allow: /creativegroup/Allow: /advertising/ User-agent: CCBotDisallow: /Allow: /creativegroup/Allow: /advertising/ User-agent: Claude-WebDisallow: /Allow: /creativegroup/Allow: /advertising/ User-agent: ClaudeBotDisallow: /Allow: /creativegroup/Allow: /advertising/ User-agent: cohere-training-data-crawlerDisallow: /Allow: /creativegroup/Allow: /advertising/ User-agent: DataForSeoBotDisallow: /… 2 lines not about AI bots User-agent: DiffbotDisallow: /Allow: /creativegroup/Allow: /advertising/ User-agent: europarchive.orgDisallow: /… 2 lines not about AI bots User-agent: FacebookBotDisallow: /Allow: /creativegroup/Allow: /advertising/ User-agent: heritrixDisallow: / User-agent: ia_archiverDisallow: / User-agent: ia_archiver-web.archive.orgDisallow: /… 8 lines not about AI bots User-agent: ImagesiftBotDisallow: / User-agent: LinkArchiverDisallow: /… 2 lines not about AI bots User-agent: meta-externalagentDisallow: /Allow: /creativegroup/Allow: /advertising/ User-agent: meta-externalfetcherDisallow: /Allow: /creativegroup/Allow: /advertising/ User-agent: NicecrawlerDisallow: /… 2 lines not about AI bots User-agent: omgiliDisallow: /Allow: /creativegroup/Allow: /advertising/ User-agent: omgilibotDisallow: /Allow: /creativegroup/Allow: /advertising/ User-agent: PerplexityBotDisallow: /Allow: /creativegroup/Allow: /advertising/ User-agent: PrimalbotDisallow: / User-agent: web-archive-net.com.botDisallow: / User-agent: YandexBotDisallow: /Allow: /creativegroup/Allow: /advertising/ Sitemap: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sitemaps/sitemap.xml.gzSitemap: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sitemaps/news-sitemap.xml.gzSitemap: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sitemaps/author-sitemap.xml.gzSitemap: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sitemaps/section-sitemap.xml.gzSitemap: https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/results/sitemap.xmlSitemap: https://www.washingtonpost.com/arcio/sitemap/video/index/Sitemap: https://www.washingtonpost.com/creativegroup/sitemaps/sitemap.xml … 19 lines not about AI bots
Everything else we checked
| Front door | No answer The homepage did not answer in time.GET https://www.washingtonpost.com/ as WalledWebBot, from a residential connection in the United States |
|---|---|
| llms.txt | Errorhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/llms.txt |
| ai.txt | Error |
| TDMRep | Refused (HTTP 403)/.well-known/tdmrep.json (W3C Community Group report) |
| Page tags | Homepage not read. |
| Anti-bot software | No sign of anti-bot software in the response.From response headers and cookie names only. A cookie shows the product is there, not how it is set up. |
| Readable by AI | Homepage not read.Homepage only. Useful for site owners; not part of the result. |
| Terms of Service | No Terms of Service page found. |
| Not found | No Content-Signal or Content-Usage lines or licensing signals (RSL License, HTTP 402). |
History
46 versions on record since 1 Jan 2023
One square per month, from Internet Archive copies and our own daily checks. Dark: blocked. Gray: some blocked. Light: allowed. Striped: no copy that month.
- Aug 2025
- Apr 2025Less blocking Now allowed: GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot and ChatGPT-User.Found in the Internet Archive's copies: changed between 1 Mar 2025 and 1 Apr 2025. Evidence: before · after
Show exactly what changed
+ User-agent: Amazonbot+ Disallow: /+ Allow: /wp-apps/imrs.php+# Disallow Rules…- User-agent: Amazonbot- Disallow: /…- User-agent: ChatGPT-User- Disallow: /-User-agent: Claude-Web…+ User-agent: cohere-training-data-crawler+ Disallow: /+User-agent: DataForSeoBot…- User-agent: GPTBot- Disallow: /-User-agent: heritrix…- User-agent: magpie-crawler- Disallow: /-User-agent: meta-externalagent…- User-agent: OAI-SearchBot- Disallow: /-User-agent: omgili - Feb 2025More blocking Now blocked: OAI-SearchBot.Found in the Internet Archive's copies: changed between 6 Jan 2025 and 14 Feb 2025. Evidence: before · after
Show exactly what changed
Disallow: /arcio/fact-checker/+ Disallow: /recipes/*?q=…- User-agent: AhrefsBot- Disallow: /-User-agent: SemrushBot…- User-agent: GPTBot++ # Disallow Rules++ User-agent: AhrefsBotDisallow: /- User-agent: ChatGPT-User+ User-agent: AmazonbotDisallow: /- User-agent: Google-Extended+ User-agent: anthropic-aiDisallow: /- User-agent: CCBot+ User-agent: Applebot-ExtendedDisallow: /- User-agent: Amazonbot+ User-agent: archive.org_botDisallow: /- User-agent: YandexBot+ User-agent: ArchiveBotDisallow: /- User-agent: anthropic-ai+ User-agent: Arquivo-web-crawlerDisallow: /…User-agent: AwarioRssBot+ Disallow: /+User-agent: AwarioSmartBot…- User-agent: ClaudeBot+ User-agent: CCBotDisallow: /+ User-agent: ChatGPT-User+ Disallow: /+User-agent: Claude-Web…+ User-agent: ClaudeBot+ Disallow: /… 75 more lines - Dec 2024More blocking Now blocked: Meta-ExternalAgent and Meta-ExternalFetcher.Found in the Internet Archive's copies: changed between 1 Nov 2024 and 1 Dec 2024. Evidence: before · after
Show exactly what changed
Disallow: /gog/*+ Disallow: /arcio/fact-checker/…+ User-agent: meta-externalagent+ Disallow: /++ User-agent: meta-externalfetcher+ Disallow: /+Sitemap: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sitemaps/sitemap.xml.gz…Sitemap: https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/results/sitemap.xml- Sitemap: https://www.washingtonpost.com/arcio/sitemap/section-fronts/list/Sitemap: https://www.washingtonpost.com/arcio/sitemap/video/index/ - Sep 2024More blocking Now blocked: Applebot-Extended.Found in the Internet Archive's copies: changed between 1 Aug 2024 and 1 Sep 2024. Evidence: before · after
Show exactly what changed
Disallow: /ac2/- Disallow: /archive/lifestyle/wellness/1999/01/19/an-illness-no-one-understands-tourettes-syndrome/852df0cc-2164-4c83-be8d-0c770d028547/Disallow: /blogs/slow-ride/…Disallow: /wp-dyn/+ Disallow: /wp-srv/Disallow: /bandito/…Disallow: /subscribe/user/+ Disallow: /subscribe/signin/+ Disallow: /subscribe/signup/Disallow: /wpost/proxy…Disallow: /ehf/*+ Disallow: /subscribe/logging/*+ Disallow: /blogs/*+ Disallow: /gog/*…+ User-agent: YandexBot+ Disallow: /+User-agent: anthropic-ai…- Sitemap: https://www.washingtonpost.com/arcio/sitemap/master/index/- Sitemap: https://www.washingtonpost.com/arcio/news-sitemap/- Sitemap: https://www.washingtonpost.com/arcio/news-sitemap-elections/+ User-agent: Applebot-Extended+ Disallow: /+ Sitemap: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sitemaps/sitemap.xml.gz+ Sitemap: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sitemaps/news-sitemap.xml.gz+ Sitemap: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sitemaps/author-sitemap.xml.gz+ Sitemap: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sitemaps/section-sitemap.xml.gz+ Sitemap: https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/results/sitemap.xml+ Sitemap: https://www.washingtonpost.com/arcio/sitemap/section-fronts/list/+ Sitemap: https://www.washingtonpost.com/arcio/sitemap/video/index/ - Mar 2024More blocking Now blocked: ClaudeBot, Bytespider, anthropic-ai, PerplexityBot and Amazonbot.Found in the Internet Archive's copies: changed between 1 Feb 2024 and 5 Mar 2024. Evidence: before · after
Show exactly what changed
+ User-agent: Amazonbot+ Disallow: /++ User-agent: anthropic-ai+ Disallow: /++ User-agent: AwarioRssBot+ User-agent: AwarioSmartBot+ Disallow: /++ User-agent: Bytespider+ Disallow: /++ User-agent: ClaudeBot+ Disallow: /++ User-agent: Claude-Web+ Disallow: /++ User-agent: DataForSeoBot+ Disallow: /++ User-agent: FacebookBot+ Disallow: /++ User-agent: magpie-crawler+ Disallow: /++ User-agent: omgili+ Disallow: /++ User-agent: omgilibot+ Disallow: /++ User-agent: peer39_crawler+ User-agent: peer39_crawler/1.0+ Disallow: /++ User-agent: PerplexityBot+ Disallow: /+Sitemap: https://www.washingtonpost.com/arcio/sitemap/master/index/Sitemap: https://www.washingtonpost.com/arcio/news-sitemap/+ Sitemap: https://www.washingtonpost.com/arcio/news-sitemap-elections/ - Dec 2023More blocking Now blocked: Google-Extended and CCBot.Found in the Internet Archive's copies: changed between 1 Oct 2023 and 1 Dec 2023. Evidence: before · after
Show exactly what changed
Disallow: /wpost/proxy+ Disallow: /ehf/+ Disallow: /ehf/*…+ User-agent: Google-Extended+ Disallow: /++ User-agent: CCBot+ Disallow: /+Sitemap: https://www.washingtonpost.com/arcio/sitemap/master/index/ - Sep 2023More blocking Now blocked: GPTBot and ChatGPT-User.Found in the Internet Archive's copies: changed between 1 Aug 2023 and 1 Sep 2023. Evidence: before · after
Show exactly what changed
Disallow: /ac2/+ Disallow: /archive/lifestyle/wellness/1999/01/19/an-illness-no-one-understands-tourettes-syndrome/852df0cc-2164-4c83-be8d-0c770d028547/Disallow: /blogs/slow-ride/…Disallow: /native/+ Disallow: /subscribe/braintree/+ Disallow: /subscribe/enterpriseportal/+ Disallow: /subscribe/foryouapi/+ Disallow: /subscribe/lagoon/+ Disallow: /subscribe/offers/service/+ Disallow: /subscribe/onsiteapi/+ Disallow: /subscribe/paywall/+ Disallow: /subscribe/person/+ Disallow: /subscribe/preferenceapi/+ Disallow: /subscribe/subscriptionapi/+ Disallow: /subscribe/user/+ Disallow: /wpost/proxy…+ User-agent: GPTBot+ Disallow: /++ User-agent: ChatGPT-User+ Disallow: /+Sitemap: https://www.washingtonpost.com/arcio/sitemap/master/index/
Reports from readers
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