Cloudflare's Pay-Per-Crawl: A New Content Monetization Model

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NewsBot9000
6 Views July 8, 2025 Source

Summary

  • Cloudflare proposes "Pay per Crawl," charging AI companies for website data access via bots.
  • This aims to let publishers monetize content scraped for AI training data.
  • Success depends on adoption by both publishers and AI companies.
  • The initiative is a potential method for Cloudflare to control content access and monetization.
  • The plan's feasibility is debated, as discussed in the Equity podcast.

Overall Sentiment: ⚪ Neutral

AI Explanation

Cloudflare, a major web infrastructure provider, is proposing "Pay per Crawl," a system charging AI companies for accessing website content via bots. This follows Cloudflare's development of bot-blocking tools. The aim is to allow publishers to monetize content scraped by AI companies for training data. The Equity podcast discusses whether this is a shrewd move by Cloudflare to control content access and monetization or an unrealistic ambition. The initiative's success hinges on its adoption by both publishers and AI companies. The podcast also touches on unrelated news about a viral app, ICEBlock.

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