Who blocks AI · #127 in the Majestic Million

robots.txt · checked 9 Nov 2026

Does imdb.com block AI crawlers?

Yes. imdb.com’s robots.txt blocks 17 of the 19 AI crawlers we track, including GPTBot, ClaudeBot, Google-Extended and 14 more. It also blocks PetalBot and YandexBot among search engines.

GPTBotBlocked OAI-SearchBotBlocked ClaudeBotBlocked PerplexityBotBlocked Google-ExtendedBlocked CCBotBlocked

robots.txt: www.imdb.com/robots.txt · 73 lines
llms.txt: none
Checked: 9 November 2026, as canaicrawl. We check again every week.

Every bot, and the line that decides

Search engines

Bot	Operator	robots.txt	Deciding line
`Googlebot`	Google	Partly blocked	line 44 · `Disallow: /register` line 45 · `Disallow: /*/register` and 18 more
`Bingbot`	Microsoft	Partly blocked	line 44 · `Disallow: /register` line 45 · `Disallow: /*/register` and 18 more
`DuckDuckBot`	DuckDuckGo	Partly blocked	line 44 · `Disallow: /register` line 45 · `Disallow: /*/register` and 18 more
`Applebot`	Apple	Partly blocked	line 44 · `Disallow: /register` line 45 · `Disallow: /*/register` and 18 more
`PetalBot`	Huawei	Blocked	line 72 · `Disallow: /` under `User-agent: *`
`YandexBot`	Yandex	Blocked	line 72 · `Disallow: /` under `User-agent: *`
`Baiduspider`	Baidu	Partly blocked	line 44 · `Disallow: /register` line 45 · `Disallow: /*/register` and 18 more

AI search

Bot	Operator	robots.txt	Deciding line
`OAI-SearchBot`	OpenAI	Blocked	line 72 · `Disallow: /` under `User-agent: *`
`PerplexityBot`	Perplexity	Blocked	line 72 · `Disallow: /` under `User-agent: *`
`Claude-SearchBot`	Anthropic	Blocked	line 72 · `Disallow: /` under `User-agent: *`
`DuckAssistBot`	DuckDuckGo	Partly blocked	line 44 · `Disallow: /register` line 45 · `Disallow: /*/register` and 18 more
`Amazonbot`	Amazon	Partly blocked	line 44 · `Disallow: /register` line 45 · `Disallow: /*/register` and 18 more
`YouBot`	You.com	Blocked	line 72 · `Disallow: /` under `User-agent: *`

AI training

Bot	Operator	robots.txt	Deciding line
`GPTBot`	OpenAI	Blocked	line 72 · `Disallow: /` under `User-agent: *`
`ClaudeBot`	Anthropic	Blocked	line 72 · `Disallow: /` under `User-agent: *`
`Google-Extended`	Google	Blocked	line 72 · `Disallow: /` under `User-agent: *`
`CCBot`	Common Crawl	Blocked	line 72 · `Disallow: /` under `User-agent: *`
`Applebot-Extended`	Apple	Blocked	line 72 · `Disallow: /` under `User-agent: *`
`GoogleOther`	Google	Blocked	line 72 · `Disallow: /` under `User-agent: *`
`Meta-ExternalAgent`	Meta	Blocked	line 72 · `Disallow: /` under `User-agent: *`
`Bytespider`	ByteDance	Blocked	line 72 · `Disallow: /` under `User-agent: *`

User-triggered fetchers

Bot	Operator	robots.txt	Deciding line
`ChatGPT-User`	OpenAI	Blocked	line 72 · `Disallow: /` under `User-agent: *`
`Claude-User`	Anthropic	Blocked	line 72 · `Disallow: /` under `User-agent: *`
`Perplexity-User`	Perplexity	Blocked	line 72 · `Disallow: /` under `User-agent: *`
`MistralAI-User`	Mistral	Blocked	line 72 · `Disallow: /` under `User-agent: *`
`Meta-ExternalFetcher`	Meta	Blocked	line 72 · `Disallow: /` under `User-agent: *`

SEO tools

Bot	Operator	robots.txt	Deciding line
`AhrefsBot`	Ahrefs	Blocked	line 72 · `Disallow: /` under `User-agent: *`
`SemrushBot`	Semrush	Blocked	line 72 · `Disallow: /` under `User-agent: *`
`MJ12bot`	Majestic	Blocked	line 72 · `Disallow: /` under `User-agent: *`
`DotBot`	Moz	Blocked	line 72 · `Disallow: /` under `User-agent: *`

View www.imdb.com/robots.txt · 73 lines

1# The content on this site is owned by IMDb.com, Inc., an Amazon.com company

2# and is made available for your personal, non-commercial use subject

3# to our Conditions of Use here: https://www.imdb.com/conditions/

4# Use of any device, tool, or process designed to data mine or scrape the content

5# using automated means is prohibited without prior written permission from IMDb.

6# For authorized data access and licensing inquiries, see: https://www.imdb.com/licensing/

8User-agent: Googlebot

9User-agent: Googlebot-Image

10User-agent: Googlebot-Video

11User-agent: Google-PageRenderer

12User-agent: Google-InspectionTool

13User-agent: Google-Safety

14User-agent: Google-Site-Verification

15User-agent: AdsBot-Google

16User-agent: AdsBot-Google-Mobile

17User-agent: Chrome-Lighthouse

18User-agent: Storebot-Google

19User-agent: Mediapartners-Google

20User-agent: GoogleStructuredData

21User-agent: Google-Read-Aloud

22User-agent: bingbot

23User-agent: Applebot

24User-agent: DuckDuckBot

25User-agent: DuckAssistBot

26User-agent: Baiduspider

27User-agent: Sogou

28User-agent: MojeekBot

29User-agent: facebookexternalhit

30User-agent: Twitterbot

31User-agent: Pinterestbot

32User-agent: LinkedInBot

33User-agent: WhatsApp

34User-agent: TelegramBot

35User-agent: Discordbot

36User-agent: Snapchat

37User-agent: Slackbot-LinkExpanding

38User-agent: Amazonbot

39User-agent: Amzn-SearchBot

40User-agent: Amzn-User

41User-agent: ClarityBot

42User-agent: Citoid

43Allow: /

44Disallow: /register

45Disallow: /*/register

46Disallow: /registration/

47Disallow: /*/registration/

48Disallow: /search/title/*

49Disallow: /*/search/title/*

50Disallow: /search/name/*

51Disallow: /*/search/name/*

52Disallow: /find

53Disallow: /*/find

54Disallow: /find/

55Disallow: /*/find/

56Disallow: /contribute/*

57Disallow: /*/contribute/*

58Disallow: /title/*/review/*

59Disallow: /*/title/*/review/*

60Disallow: /title/*/reviews

61Disallow: /*/title/*/reviews

62Disallow: /user/ur*/reviews

63Disallow: /*/user/ur*/reviews

65User-agent: AmazonAdBot

66Allow: /

68User-Agent: __usage_ai-training

69Disallow: /

71User-agent: *

72Disallow: /

What do the bots actually get?

This page reads robots.txt, which states what imdb.com asks of crawlers. A firewall or CDN can still refuse a bot that robots.txt allows. The live check requests the page as each bot and shows the status it gets.

Run a live check on imdb.com Test a path in the robots.txt tester

History

19 October 2026: first checked.

Questions

Does imdb.com block GPTBot?

Yes. imdb.com’s robots.txt disallows GPTBot from the whole site (line 72: Disallow: /). GPTBot is OpenAI’s crawler for training data; blocking it doesn’t affect ChatGPT search, which uses OAI-SearchBot. Checked 9 November 2026.

Does imdb.com block ClaudeBot?

Yes. imdb.com’s robots.txt disallows ClaudeBot from the whole site (line 72: Disallow: /). ClaudeBot is Anthropic’s crawler for training data. Checked 9 November 2026.

Does imdb.com block Google-Extended?

Yes. imdb.com’s robots.txt disallows Google-Extended from the whole site (line 72: Disallow: /). Google-Extended is the token that controls whether Google may use pages for Gemini training and grounding; it doesn’t affect Google Search. Checked 9 November 2026.

Does imdb.com block PerplexityBot?

Yes. imdb.com’s robots.txt disallows PerplexityBot from the whole site (line 72: Disallow: /). PerplexityBot is the crawler that indexes pages for Perplexity’s answers. Checked 9 November 2026.

Can ChatGPT search find imdb.com?

Not through its own crawler. imdb.com’s robots.txt disallows OAI-SearchBot from the whole site (line 72: Disallow: /). OAI-SearchBot is the crawler behind ChatGPT search; blocking it keeps the site out of ChatGPT’s search answers. Checked 9 November 2026.