OpenClaw Users Are Allegedly Bypassing Anti-Bot Systems

Wired

by Reece Rogers

February 25, 2026

AI-Generated Deep Dive Summary

OpenClaw users are reportedly using an open-source tool called Scrapling to bypass anti-bot systems like Cloudflare Turnstile, sparking a clash between scraping bots and website protections. Designed to operate stealthily without detection, Scrapling has gained popularity among OpenClaw users, with over 200,000 downloads since its release. This development has drawn the attention of Cloudflare, which has been actively blocking Scrapling's previous iterations and working on a patch for its latest version. The company views this as an ongoing cat-and-mouse game, with both sides continuously adapting to outsmart each other. The rise of Scrapling highlights a broader trend in the tech world, where individuals are leveraging AI tools like OpenClaw to scrape data, mirroring the methods used by large language model developers during training. This has led website owners to enhance anti-bot measures and even monetize access to their sites through paid bot access. Cloudflare itself has implemented additional tools to block AI crawlers unless they pay for access, successfully blocking 416 billion scraping attempts in less than a year. The situation took an unexpected turn when a cryptocurrency tied to Scrapling, called $Scrapling, emerged, causing a brief surge in value before plummeting. The tool's developer distanced themselves from the crypto initiative, emphasizing that they no longer wanted any association with it. Despite this hiccup, most tech leaders see AI agents and autonomous tools as the future of the web, even as companies like Cloudflare focus on ethical use by blocking unauthorized scraping. In summary, the Scrapling controversy underscores the evolving battle between scraping bots and

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Originally published on Wired on 2/25/2026