Do all websites allow web scraping?

Have you ever wanted to extract data from websites for your own analysis or application? If so, you likely looked into web scraping. Web scraping refers to programmatically collecting publicly available data from websites.

At first glance, this may seem harmless. However, many major websites like Facebook, Amazon, and Twitter prohibit scraping in their terms of service. So how do you know when web scraping goes too far?

Key Considerations Around Web Scraping

Simply put, be a good citizen by not overtaxing servers, respecting opt-out signals, and considering how your scraping may impact site owners.

When Scraping May Be Okay

There are certainly cases when web scraping is perfectly fine or even encouraged:

The key is respecting the wishes of website owners. If terms prohibit scraping, it's best to find alternative data sources instead of violating those terms.