Cloudflare, the cloud infrastructure company that powers about one-fifth of all websites, is introducing an initiative called Pay per Crawl. This experiment enables online publishers to charge artificial intelligence companies every time their bots scrape website content. The move follows a year of Cloudflare preparing tools to block bots, and now it aims to sit at the center of a new paid model for web data access.
On TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec and Maxwell Zeff discussed how Pay per Crawl could transform content monetization. Some see it as a clever way to protect publisher interests as AI tools increasingly depend on web data to train their models, while others question whether such a system will succeed or prove too ambitious.
The episode also covered other major tech developments. ICEBlock, an app allowing people to anonymously report U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement sightings, recently went viral. Its surge in popularity followed public criticism from former prosecutor Pam Bondi, sparking debate and driving the app to become one of the most-downloaded free iPhone apps in the country.
Meanwhile, design platform Figma has filed its S-1 in preparation for a public offering. With 48% revenue growth, the filing suggests strong demand for collaborative design tools and hints at a potentially high-profile IPO. Grammarly’s acquisition of email startup Superhuman was also discussed, signaling Grammarly’s interest in developing AI-powered productivity solutions for the future.
Finally, the podcast highlighted Tesla co-founder JB Straubel’s new business, which could eventually challenge Tesla’s own energy storage division.
Equity, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, releases new episodes every Wednesday and Friday. The hosts signed off by wishing U.S. listeners a relaxing holiday weekend.
