A bipartisan bill would force AI-powered web crawlers to reveal their identity and purpose. The proposal aims to protect publishers and online businesses from hidden data scraping. Enforcement would fall to the Federal Trade Commission.
Online publishers and digital businesses could soon see new protections against hidden AI-driven web crawlers if a bipartisan bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives advances. The Stealth Bot Prohibition Act, announced by Representative Laurel Lee (FL-15) and Representative Valerie Foushee (NC-4), would require AI-powered stealth crawlers to clearly disclose both their identity and their purpose when accessing websites.
Supporters of the bill argue that as artificial intelligence tools become more advanced, website operators are increasingly left without visibility into who is collecting their content or for what reason. Lee said the legislation is intended as an initial step toward a more transparent and secure online marketplace, where businesses can better protect their proprietary information and networks.
The proposed law responds to mounting concerns from publishers and online businesses about AI companies scraping website content to train or operate their systems. Under the bill, the Federal Trade Commission would be responsible for enforcing the new disclosure requirements, giving regulators the authority to act against deceptive AI-powered bots that mask their true nature.
Industry groups have voiced strong support for the measure. Danielle Coffey, president and CEO of the News/Media Alliance, said that bot traffic is undermining publishers’ ability to serve readers and that current technical defenses are not enough to stop malicious actors who disguise their identity. She described the Stealth Bot Prohibition Act as a necessary and practical solution for a problem that has affected news publishers and other sectors for years, first with traditional bots and now with AI-based crawlers.
According to the News/Media Alliance, deceptive bots can account for more than half of all traffic on some publisher sites. The organization believes that requiring bots to identify themselves will help publishers and verification tools more accurately separate automated traffic from real human audiences.
The bill must still pass committee review and secure approval from both the House and Senate before it can become law. The debate over AI crawlers and content scraping has also led some publishers to take direct action; for example, major German news sites have begun blocking AI bots, a move detailed in this recent report on publisher strategies to limit AI crawler access.
