UK News Industry Backs Bill to Ban Deceptive AI Web Scrapers

The UK's Automated Online Software (Access and Transparency) Bill is being drafted to stop AI bots from using deceptive tactics—such as masquerading as humans or legitimate search crawlers—to scrape news websites without disclosure. The bill has publisher support but will need government backing to become law; proponents hope it will shape broader legislation even if it falls short of passing on its own.

The move follows New York state's Stealth Crawler Prohibition Act, which has already passed both the Senate and Assembly and awaits the governor's signature. Both laws target the same problem: bots that obscure their identity or purpose make it nearly impossible for publishers to block unwanted access, understand how their content is being used, or negotiate fairly with AI companies. Industry data cited in the item suggests the scraper-and-broker ecosystem is a $1 billion industry, and a recent Fastly report found that 99% of bot traffic is unwanted or unverifiable.