Cloudflare sets a Sept 15 deadline for AI companies to split search crawlers from AI crawlers or face default blocks

Cloudflare’s new policy pushes AI companies to pay for publishers’ content

Cloudflare will start blocking mixed-use crawlers by default on ad-supported pages from September 15, 2026. The block applies to new customers, new sites from existing customers, and all free-tier users. Site owners can override it, but the default stance is: separate search crawling from AI training and agent use, or get blocked. The post doesn't say how many sites this covers or whether Cloudflare plans its own paid licensing path.

Why it matters: Cloudflare, a CDN giant, is setting rules directly — splitting AI scraping from search crawling and pushing AI companies to negotiate payment. Has a concrete date and mechanism, not just rhetoric. Score isn't higher because it's a policy announcement; real-world enforcement an...