01 · Operator
Who operates meta-externalads
- Company
- Meta Platforms, Inc.
- Type
- Other bot
- Official docs
- developers.facebook.com
02 · Behavior
What meta-externalads does
Meta documents that meta-externalads crawls the web to improve advertising and other business-related products and services. It identifies itself with the meta-externalads product token. Meta lists it alongside its other crawlers, such as FacebookExternalHit and Meta-ExternalAgent.
03 · Impact
Why meta-externalads matters for your site
If you allow it
- May help Meta understand landing pages of your ads
- Operated by a known company with public documentation
If you block it
- Brings no direct traffic or link previews
- Serves Meta's advertising products, not your visitors
- Adds server load
04 · Allow
How to allow meta-externalads
robots.txt
User-agent: meta-externalads
Allow: /Cloudflare
# Security › WAF › Custom rules › Create rule
Expression: (http.user_agent contains "meta-externalads")
Action: Skip › All Super Bot Fight Mode rules
# Also check Security › Bots: "Block AI bots" can block it regardless of robots.txt.WordPress
# WordPress serves a virtual robots.txt. Edit it with your SEO plugin:
# Yoast: SEO › Tools › File editor · Rank Math: General Settings › Edit robots.txt
User-agent: meta-externalads
Allow: /nginx
# nginx serves every user agent by default.
# Make sure no rule like this blocks it:
# if ($http_user_agent ~* "meta\-externalads") { return 403; }Apache
# Apache serves every user agent by default.
# Make sure .htaccess has no rule like this:
# RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} meta\-externalads [NC]
# RewriteRule .* - [F,L]05 · Block
How to block meta-externalads
Start with robots.txt. If meta-externalads keeps showing up in your logs, block it at your CDN or web server.
robots.txt
User-agent: meta-externalads
Disallow: /Cloudflare
# Security › WAF › Custom rules › Create rule
Expression: (http.user_agent contains "meta-externalads")
Action: BlockWordPress
# WordPress serves a virtual robots.txt. Edit it with your SEO plugin:
# Yoast: SEO › Tools › File editor · Rank Math: General Settings › Edit robots.txt
User-agent: meta-externalads
Disallow: /nginx
# In your server { } block:
if ($http_user_agent ~* "meta\-externalads") {
return 403;
}Apache
# .htaccess
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} meta\-externalads [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]
</IfModule>06 · User agents
User agents we see for meta-externalads
| User agent | Share | Last seen | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
meta-externalads/1.1 (+https://developers.facebook.com/docs/sharing/webmasters/crawler) |
70% | Unverified | |
meta-externalads/1.1 (+https://developers.facebook.com/docs/sharing/webmasters/crawler) |
30% | Verified |
07 · Verification
Is it really meta-externalads?
meta-externalads’s operator publishes no IP ranges or hostnames, so requests cannot be verified. Treat the user agent as a claim, and watch your logs for unusual request rates.
IP addresses we saw from verified meta-externalads requests
| IP range | Share | Last seen |
|---|---|---|
173.252.82.28 |
33% | |
173.252.82.113 |
17% | |
173.252.82.10 |
17% | |
173.252.95.41 |
17% | |
173.252.82.25 |
17% |
Always check against the operator’s current list; ranges change.
FAQ
Questions about meta-externalads
What is meta-externalads?
It is a Meta crawler that fetches web pages to improve advertising and other business-related products and services.
How do I block meta-externalads?
Add 'User-agent: meta-externalads' with 'Disallow: /' to your robots.txt. Meta lists this token in its crawler documentation.
How can I verify a request is from Meta?
Check that the IP belongs to Meta's AS32934. Meta suggests querying whois.radb.net for routes of that ASN.
Last reviewed Oct 8, 2026