Meta’s web crawlers are making life hell for owners of small business websites

Meta Platforms has faced intense scrutiny after announcing upcoming changes to its terms that, essentially, allow AI crawlers to run wild across business accounts. Yet, the owner of Facebook and Instagram has been doing a version of that on websites for years, website managers say, with small online businesses often left to deal with the repercussions. Take California-based artist Chelsea Paulus, who says Meta’s crawlers crashed her website last week. A bot called Meta-Exte...