---
schema_version: "newruntime-reader-dossiers-v1"
type: "reader_dossier"
slug: "meta-externalagent"
kind: "ai_training"
operator: "Meta"
researched_at: "2026-10-23"
confidence: "high"
json_url: "https://newruntime.com/readers/meta-externalagent.json"
canonical_url: "https://newruntime.com/readers/meta-externalagent/"
---

# Meta-ExternalAgent

> Meta crawler for use cases such as training foundation AI models or improving products by indexing content directly.

## Dossier

- Kind: AI model crawlers
- Operator: Meta (https://www.meta.com/)
- Documentation: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/sharing/webmasters/web-crawlers
- robots.txt tokens: meta-externalagent
- Feeds: model training, search index
- Respects robots.txt: Yes, per its documentation. Blocked by a robots.txt disallow for its user agent; changes may take up to 24h.
- Verification: No published method
- Labels matched in our logs: meta-externalagent

## Why it matters to New Runtime (our interpretation)

Feeds Llama-family training and Meta product indexes — reach into Meta AI surfaces, without attribution.

## Observed behaviour

- Baseline 2026-10-23 (93-day window): 7,984 requests on 12 days; first seen 2026-09-25, last seen 2026-10-23; Returning.
- Live numbers: https://newruntime.com/bot-traffic-history.json and https://newruntime.com/crawler-journeys.json

## Sources

- https://developers.facebook.com/docs/sharing/webmasters/web-crawlers

Identity: A family name is what a client claims in its user agent. It is verified only when its request came from the operator's published IP ranges or passed forward-confirmed reverse DNS, as reported per family in /crawler-journeys.json. Anyone can claim any name.

All dossiers: https://newruntime.com/readers.md