---
title: "FacebookBot: user agent, token, block rate | Agent Ready Crawlers"
description: "FacebookBot from Meta: robots.txt token FacebookBot, other purpose and what a site can check; no exact user-agent string is published. Read 2026-11-04."
canonical: https://agentreadycrawlers.com/crawlers/facebookbot
site: "Agent Ready Crawlers"
last_updated: 2026-11-04
section: "Crawlers"
---

# FacebookBot: user agent, token, block rate | Agent Ready Crawlers

> FacebookBot from Meta: robots.txt token FacebookBot, other purpose and what a site can check; no exact user-agent string is published. Read 2026-11-04.

Source: https://agentreadycrawlers.com/crawlers/facebookbot
Site: Agent Ready Crawlers
Last reviewed: 2026-11-04

Bot from Meta

# FacebookBot (legacy token)

In short

FacebookBot (legacy token) is Meta's bot, filed under Other. The token to write in robots.txt is FacebookBot. The operator publishes nothing a site can check. Still named in many robots.txt files (twitter.com names it in the shared crawl, 2026-11-04). On robots.txt, not listed on Meta's current crawler page, which names FacebookExternalHit, Meta-WebIndexer, Meta-ExternalAds, Meta-ExternalAgent and Meta-ExternalFetcher (checked 2026-11-04).

Operator

[Meta](https://agentreadycrawlers.com/crawlers/operator/meta/) Vendor profile: [Meta](https://agentreadycrawlers.com/vendors/meta/)

Purpose

Other [All other rows](https://agentreadycrawlers.com/crawlers/purpose/other/). Link previews, ad checks, dataset crawls, SEO tools and legacy tokens that fit none of the five purposes.

User-agent string

No exact string is published. What the operator or a third party says: Not listed on Meta's current crawler page

robots.txt token

`FacebookBot` Matched case-insensitively (RFC 9309). The token and the user-agent string are different things.

Respects robots.txt

Not on current operator page

Not listed on Meta's current crawler page, which names FacebookExternalHit, Meta-WebIndexer, Meta-ExternalAds, Meta-ExternalAgent and Meta-ExternalFetcher (checked 2026-11-04). [Source](https://developers.facebook.com/docs/sharing/webmasters/web-crawlers/), read 2026-11-04.

Verification

Nothing published

The operator publishes no list, reverse DNS pattern or key directory a site owner can check. [Documentation](https://developers.facebook.com/docs/sharing/webmasters/web-crawlers/), read 2026-11-04.

IP ranges

Not published.

Rate behaviour

Not documented.

Block rate

**10.2%** of 5,938 top-10,000 sites with a parsed robots.txt disallow `FacebookBot` at the root (603 sites). 6.4% name it; 3.7% refuse it only through a \* group. Rank 18 of 31 tokens measured.

Across all 8,624 parsed robots.txt files in the crawl: 7.3% (4.6% named). Crawl of 2026-11-04; [report](https://agentreadycrawlers.com/block-rates/).

Documentation

[developers.facebook.com](https://developers.facebook.com/docs/sharing/webmasters/web-crawlers/), read 2026-11-04.

Note. Still named in many robots.txt files (twitter.com names it in the shared crawl, 2026-11-04). Kept as a legacy row.

## Allow and refuse lines

### To allow FacebookBot

User-agent: FacebookBot
Allow: /

### To refuse FacebookBot

User-agent: FacebookBot
Disallow: /

Refusing or allowing in robots.txt states a preference. Enforcement of a refusal belongs in your WAF; see how to verify the identity above.

## Meta in the Verification Ledger

User agent strings only; the page recommends IP allowlisting but links no list. Publishes nothing for Muse. [All operators](https://agentreadycrawlers.com/verification/).

IP lists

publishes nothing

Reverse DNS

publishes nothing

Key directory

publishes nothing

Cloudflare

not checked

Visa TAP registry

no public operator-level registration found (checked 2026-11-04)

Mastercard Agent Pay

no public operator-level registration found (checked 2026-11-04)

## Other Meta rows

-   [Meta-ExternalAgent](https://agentreadycrawlers.com/crawlers/meta-externalagent/) Training token meta-externalagent
-   [Meta-ExternalFetcher](https://agentreadycrawlers.com/crawlers/meta-externalfetcher/) Live answer fetch token meta-externalfetcher
-   [Meta-WebIndexer](https://agentreadycrawlers.com/crawlers/meta-webindexer/) Search index token meta-webindexer
-   [Meta-ExternalAds](https://agentreadycrawlers.com/crawlers/meta-externalads/) Other token meta-externalads
-   [FacebookExternalHit](https://agentreadycrawlers.com/crawlers/facebookexternalhit/) Other token facebookexternalhit
-   [Muse (personal agent)](https://agentreadycrawlers.com/crawlers/meta-muse/) Shopping agent no token

## Sources

-   [Meta Web Crawlers](https://developers.facebook.com/docs/sharing/webmasters/web-crawlers/) read 2026-11-04

Last reviewed 2026-11-04