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TollBit measured that 30 percent of AI bot scrapes in the last quarter of 2025 bypassed explicit robots.txt permissions. Digital Trends, a mid-size publisher, received 4.1 million bot scrapes in one week and had not switched on TollBit's paywall, so it earned nothing from them.
Dated 3 Mar 2026Source checked 29 Oct 2026Quote found on its page again 30 Oct 2026Basis: indicative
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“30 percent of total AI bot scrapes in Q4 2025 bypassed explicit robots.txt permissions, according to TollBit.”
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