Buck Bot (Hypefactors): What It Is & How to Block It

01 · Operator

Who operates Buck

Company: Hypefactors
Type: Other bot
Official docs: app.hypefactors.com

02 · Behavior

What Buck does

Buck automatically discovers and scans web pages, similar to a search engine crawler. Hypefactors uses the data for media monitoring. It adapts to how often a site updates. Hypefactors says it deletes data older than 90 days.

03 · Impact

Why Buck matters for your site

If you allow it

Your content can appear in brand media monitoring
Respects robots.txt

If you block it

Commercial data collection with no direct traffic benefit
Adds crawl load

04 · Allow

How to allow Buck

robots.txt

User-agent: Buck
Allow: /

Cloudflare

# Security › WAF › Custom rules › Create rule
Expression: (http.user_agent contains "Buck")
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: Buck
Allow: /

nginx

# nginx serves every user agent by default.
# Make sure no rule like this blocks it:
# if ($http_user_agent ~* "Buck") { return 403; }

Apache

# Apache serves every user agent by default.
# Make sure .htaccess has no rule like this:
# RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Buck [NC]
# RewriteRule .* - [F,L]

05 · Block

How to block Buck

Buck follows robots.txt, so one rule is enough. Use a server or CDN rule only to stop spoofed copies.

robots.txt

User-agent: Buck
Disallow: /

Cloudflare

# Security › WAF › Custom rules › Create rule
Expression: (http.user_agent contains "Buck")
Action:     Block

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: Buck
Disallow: /

nginx

# In your server { } block:
if ($http_user_agent ~* "Buck") {
    return 403;
}

Apache

# .htaccess
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Buck [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]
</IfModule>

06 · User agents

User agents we see for Buck

The user agent published by the operator:

Buck/2.2; (+https://app.hypefactors.com/media-monitoring/about.html)

07 · Verification

Is it really Buck?

Buck’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.

FAQ

Questions about Buck

What is the Buck bot?

Buck is the web crawler of Hypefactors, a media monitoring platform. It scans pages to find brand mentions.

Does Buck respect robots.txt?

Yes. Hypefactors says Buck respects robots.txt, and you can also email them to exclude your domain.

How do I block Buck?

Add 'User-agent: Buck' with 'Disallow: /' to your robots.txt file.

Buck is Hypefactors’ other bot