Bot IP: 173.252.69.5
Bot Name: Meta External Agent
Meta External Agent is a web crawler operated by Meta (formerly Facebook) to fetch and analyze external web content for its platforms and services.
Likely legitimate
Track-A-Bot Trust Score: 87/100
87
score
0255075100
Why Track-A-Bot rated this IP (tap to expand)
Identity
- ✅ Marked as bot traffic
- ✅ Bot name present
- ✅ User-agent matches bot name
- ✅ User-agent includes identity link/email
Hostname
- ✅ Hostname observed
- ℹ️ Hostname does not resemble bot name
- ℹ️ Hostname status not verified
- ✅ No hostname mismatch flags
Behavior
- ℹ️ No /robots.txt request observed
- ✅ No referrer (typical crawler behavior)
- ✅ Mostly 200/304 responses
- 📌 Visits: 6
- ⏱️ Age: 9642h
Penalties
- ✅ No major spoof pattern
- ✅ No fingerprint fields
- ✅ Cookies not enabled
- ✅ No connection type
Total visits: 7 First seen: Aug 5th, 2024 1:23 AM Last seen: Dec 12th, 2025 7:23 PM
Known Hostname(s)
fwdproxy-dkl-005.fbsv.net
Known User Agent(s)
facebookexternalhit/1.1 (+http://www.facebook.com/externalhit_uatext.php)meta-externalagent/1.1 (+https://developers.facebook.com/docs/sharing/webmasters/crawler)
Common User-Agent Tokens
These are identifiers found inside user-agent strings we observed for meta-externalagent.
Token
Seen
First seen
Last seen
meta-externalagent/1.1
44,389
7/20/24
12/12/25
meta-externalagent/1.1
44,389 seen
meta-externalagent/1.1
44,389 seen
First
7/20/24
Last
12/12/25
Identity Links
These are URLs we observed in association with meta-externalagent (often used as an identity, help, or policy link).
URL
Seen
First seen
Last seen
First
7/20/24
Last
12/12/25
Bot FAQ for this IP
Why is facebookexternalhit visiting my website?
The facebookexternalhit bot visits websites to retrieve content that is shared or linked on Facebook. When a user shares a link on Facebook, this bot accesses the linked page to collect metadata such as titles, descriptions, and images. This information is then used to generate link previews within Facebook posts. The recent activity from IP address 173.252.69.5 shows requests to various pages, which is consistent with this behavior. To verify the legitimacy of these visits, check the user agent string ("facebookexternalhit/1.1"), confirm the reverse DNS resolves to a Facebook-owned domain (such as fbsv.net), and monitor for expected request patterns. If necessary, adjust robots.txt settings, use allow/block lists, or implement rate limiting to control access.
What does facebookexternalhit do?
facebookexternalhit is a web crawler operated by Facebook. Its primary function is to fetch web page content when links are shared on Facebook, enabling the platform to display accurate previews and metadata. The bot identifies itself with the user agent "facebookexternalhit/1.1" and typically accesses public pages to extract Open Graph and other metadata. This process helps ensure that shared links on Facebook display relevant information. To manage its activity, website owners can review server logs for the user agent, use reverse DNS lookups to confirm Facebook ownership, and set appropriate rules in robots.txt or web application firewalls.
Is facebookexternalhit safe?
facebookexternalhit is generally considered safe and is a legitimate crawler used by Facebook for link preview generation. The user agent and reverse DNS (fbsv.net) are consistent with Facebook's documented crawler infrastructure. However, as with any automated traffic, it is important to monitor for unusual behavior or excessive requests. Website owners can verify authenticity by checking the user agent and confirming the IP address's reverse DNS. To mitigate potential issues, consider implementing rate limiting, updating allow/block lists, monitoring traffic patterns, and specifying crawler rules in robots.txt. Blocking this bot may prevent Facebook from displaying previews of your site's links.
This page provides a detailed lookup for the bot with the IP address of 173.252.69.5, based on real-world traffic observed across websites using Track-A-Bot software. Use this information to verify whether activity from this IP belongs to a legitimate search engine crawler, or to analyze bot behavior on your website.