Does thehindu.com block AI crawlers?
As of 2026-11-04, the robots.txt of thehindu.com blocks 9 of 18 AI crawlers, including GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT-User, ClaudeBot.
AI crawler status of thehindu.com
Based on the live robots.txt of thehindu.com, checked on 2026-11-04. “Some paths restricted” means the bot may crawl the site but certain sections are excluded.
| User agent | Company | Purpose | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
GPTBot | OpenAI | Model training | Blocked |
OAI-SearchBot | OpenAI | ChatGPT search index | Blocked |
ChatGPT-User | OpenAI | Live browsing for ChatGPT users | Blocked |
ClaudeBot | Anthropic | Model training | Blocked |
Claude-SearchBot | Anthropic | Claude search index | Allowed (some paths restricted) |
Claude-User | Anthropic | Live browsing for Claude users | Allowed (some paths restricted) |
PerplexityBot | Perplexity | Perplexity search index | Blocked |
Perplexity-User | Perplexity | Live browsing for Perplexity users | Allowed (some paths restricted) |
Google-Extended | Gemini training & grounding | Allowed (some paths restricted) | |
Googlebot | Search and AI Overviews | Allowed (some paths restricted) | |
Bingbot | Microsoft | Bing search and Microsoft Copilot | Allowed (some paths restricted) |
Applebot-Extended | Apple | Apple Intelligence training | Allowed (some paths restricted) |
Meta-ExternalAgent | Meta | Meta AI training | Blocked |
Amazonbot | Amazon | Alexa and Amazon AI | Blocked |
DuckAssistBot | DuckDuckGo | DuckAssist answers | Allowed (some paths restricted) |
MistralAI-User | Mistral | Live browsing for Le Chat users | Allowed (some paths restricted) |
CCBot | Common Crawl | Open dataset used by many AI models | Blocked |
Bytespider | ByteDance | Model training | Blocked |
What this means
thehindu.com blocks some AI crawlers but not others, so its visibility differs by assistant. Check the table to see exactly which AI products can read it.
Among the 381 news & media sites in our AI crawler report, 59% block GPTBot completely. thehindu.com is one of them.
Blocking AI bots is one side. The other: is AI actually sending you visitors? Citelytic shows how much traffic ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Copilot send to your own site.
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FAQ
Does thehindu.com block ChatGPT?
Yes. As of 2026-11-04, OAI-SearchBot is blocked and ChatGPT-User is blocked in the robots.txt of thehindu.com. GPTBot (OpenAI's training crawler) is blocked.
Can Perplexity access thehindu.com?
PerplexityBot is blocked and Perplexity-User is allowed with some restricted paths on thehindu.com according to its robots.txt checked on 2026-11-04.
Does thehindu.com have an llms.txt file?
No, we did not find an llms.txt file on thehindu.com when we checked on 2026-11-04.
How is this data collected?
We fetch the public robots.txt file of each site and evaluate the rules for 18 AI user agents for the site root. robots.txt is a request, not a technical barrier, and sites may also block bots at the firewall level, which this check does not see.
Blocking AI bots is one side. The other: is AI actually sending you visitors? Citelytic shows how much traffic ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Copilot send to your own site.
Start free – no credit card