Representatives Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) and Laurel Lee (R-FL) have teamed up with Representative Valerie Foushee (D-NC) to introduce a bipartisan bill to combat deceptive web crawling bots online.
Web Crawlers and What the Bill Does
Automated web crawlers, also called spider bots, crawlers, or just bots, are automated search engines that "crawl" the internet based on an initial URL and then continuously search and index links for future use.
The problem, especially with the rise in artificial intelligence (AI), is that malicious bots are becoming more sophisticated, ignoring industry standards, impersonating human users, or completely obscuring their identities, making it harder for website operators to know who is accessing their systems and what they are doing.
To combat this, Rep. Bilirakis and Rep. Lee's Stealth Bot Prohibition Act requires automated web crawlers to accurately identify themselves and disclose their purpose when accessing websites and bans "stealth bots" that intentionally misrepresent their identity or impersonate human users while collecting data for use in connection with generative AI services.
What Lawmakers are Saying
"The rise of artificial intelligence presents incredible opportunities, but innovation must never come at the expense of those who create original content," said Rep. Bilirakis in a press release. "News organizations invest significant time and resources to produce accurate, reliable journalism that keeps our communities informed. It is simply wrong for AI bots to scrape that content, repurpose it, and profit from it without permission or compensation."
"As a proud co-lead of the BOTS Act, I am committed to protecting intellectual property, supporting local journalism, and ensuring that emerging technologies are developed responsibly," the Florida lawmaker continued. "This bipartisan legislation establishes commonsense guardrails that encourage innovation while safeguarding the rights of content creators and preserving access to trusted news sources for the American people."
Echoing his remarks, Rep. Lee said, "As artificial intelligence becomes more sophisticated, we must ensure innovation is accompanied by transparency and accountability. Today, website operators are too often left in the dark about who is accessing their systems and whether automated tools are collecting their content under false pretenses. The Stealth Bot Prohibition Act establishes commonsense transparency standards that help businesses protect their networks, safeguard proprietary information, and better understand how AI systems interact with online content."
