Does techcrunch.com block AI crawlers?
Blocks AI training and AI answers
techcrunch.com blocks both AI training crawlers and AI answer crawlers in its robots.txt.
Checked from techcrunch.com/robots.txt. Robots rules change; the live file is the source of truth.
- AI crawlers blocked
- 7 of 12
- AI bots named in robots.txt
- 8
- llms.txt
- Not found
- Popularity
- Tranco top 1,000 (#647)
Can AI assistants cite techcrunch.com?
- ChatGPT search: its search crawler is blocked
- Claude: its search crawlers may read the site
- Perplexity: its search crawlers may read the site
techcrunch.com opts out of AI training by OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Apple, Common Crawl, ByteDance. Training crawlers and answer crawlers are separate: blocking training doesn't by itself remove a site from AI answers.
AI crawler access, bot by bot
| Crawler | Used for | Status on techcrunch.com |
|---|---|---|
| GPTBotOpenAI | AI training | Blocked |
| OAI-SearchBotOpenAI | AI answers | Some paths restricted |
| ChatGPT-UserOpenAI | AI answers | Blocked |
| ClaudeBotAnthropic | AI training | Blocked |
| Claude-SearchBotAnthropic | AI answers | Some paths restricted |
| Claude-UserAnthropic | AI answers | Some paths restricted |
| PerplexityBotPerplexity | AI answers | Some paths restricted |
| Google-ExtendedGoogle | AI training | Blocked |
| Applebot-ExtendedApple | AI training | Blocked |
| CCBotCommon Crawl | AI training | Blocked |
| BytespiderByteDance | AI training | Blocked |
| Meta-ExternalAgentMeta | AI training | Some paths restricted |
How techcrunch.com compares
- 19% of the 1,278 popular sites we checked block GPTBot; techcrunch.com is one of them.
- 18% of the 1,278 popular sites we checked block ClaudeBot; techcrunch.com is one of them.
- 14% of the 1,278 popular sites we checked block PerplexityBot; techcrunch.com does not.
- Among 194 sites of similar popularity, 29% block at least one AI crawler.
The robots.txt rules that apply to AI crawlers
User-agent: * Disallow: /wp-admin/ Disallow: /wp-json/ Allow: /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php Disallow: /search/ Disallow: /?s= Disallow: /*?customize_changeset_uuid=* User-agent: anthropic-ai Disallow: / User-agent: Applebot-Extended Disallow: / User-agent: Bytespider Disallow: / User-agent: CCBot Disallow: / User-agent: ChatGPT-User Disallow: / User-agent: Claude-Web User-agent: ClaudeBot Disallow: / User-agent: Google-Extended Disallow: / User-agent: GPTBot Disallow: /
Excerpt: only groups for all user-agents (*) or named AI crawlers, up to 40 rules per group.
Sites with a similar AI policy
Does techcrunch.com block GPTBot?
Yes. As of Oct 2, 2026, techcrunch.com's robots.txt disallows GPTBot, OpenAI's training crawler.
Can ChatGPT search show results from techcrunch.com?
Its robots.txt blocks a ChatGPT search crawler, so ChatGPT search is unlikely to read or cite those pages.
Does techcrunch.com have an llms.txt file?
We didn't find a valid llms.txt at techcrunch.com/llms.txt when we checked.
Data: techcrunch.com's public robots.txt and llms.txt, fetched by AskableHQ. Popularity rank from the Tranco list (ID Y83YG). Methodology.