Is scraping Google legal? What the 2026 court rulings say

Scraping Google Search results in the United States is not governed by a single rule but by overlapping theories involving computer-access law, contracts, copyright, and the DMCA, while European rules add database, text-mining, and privacy considerations. Public-page scraping is generally less likely to violate the CFAA after Van Buren and hiQ, but it may still conflict with Google’s terms, which prohibit automated access contrary to robots.txt and the circumvention of protective measures. Current litigation between Google, Reddit, SerpApi, and other parties centers on whether bypassing Google’s SearchGuard can violate the DMCA when search results include copyrighted or licensed material, with courts allowing some claims to proceed while emphasizing that no final liability findings have been made. The Reddit case also indicates that customers using a scraping provider may face claims if they direct or participate in the collection activity. Separate copyright risks can arise from storing, republishing, or training on protected snippets, images, and other content, and personal data may trigger GDPR obligations in Europe. Google increasingly relies on technical blocks, contractual restrictions, and licensed alternatives, while the text advises organizations to consider authorized sources, independent search indexes, vendor practices and indemnities, limits on reuse of collected content, and legal advice tailored to their circumstances.

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