Meta
meta-externalfetcher
- Class
- User fetch
- robots.txt
- May bypass robots.txt
- Meta: "may bypass" robots.txt.
meta-externalfetcher/1.1 (+https://developers.facebook.com/docs/sharing/webmasters/web-crawlers)Proving it is real
Meta publishes no way to confirm this identity, so any request using this name has to be taken on trust.
Blocking it
User-agent: meta-externalfetcher
Disallow: /(http.user_agent contains "meta-externalfetcher")if ($http_user_agent ~* "meta-externalfetcher") {
return 403;
}Matching a name only blocks bots that tell the truth about it. Before you do this, read what each decision costs.
Last reviewed Nov 2, 2026