# Why websites block AI agents, and what changes when your agent shops from your device > Many stores block AI agents. Some blocks are about bot traffic, and some are business choices. Here is what running your agent on your own device can change, and what it can't. Source: https://deputant.com/blog-why-agents-get-blocked.html Deputant team · Oct 8, 2026 · 4 min read If you have asked an AI agent to buy something online, you may have watched it fail. The agent finds the item. Then the store shows an error page, a check that asks if you are human, or nothing at all. The agent gives up, or it asks you to finish the task yourself. This is happening more often. Here is why, and what we are building to help. ## Where most agents run Most AI agents don't run on your phone or laptop. They run on servers in data centers. When an agent visits a store for you, the store sees a visit from a data center, not from your home. Stores have good reasons to be careful with that kind of traffic. For years, much of the traffic from data centers came from bots. Some copy prices. Some buy up stock to resell. Some try stolen passwords on many accounts. So many stores, and the security services they use, treat data-center traffic as bot traffic. An agent that shops for you can get caught in the same net. ## Stores block agents for different reasons Not every block is about bots. The news from the past few weeks shows at least four reasons. **Bot traffic.** Some websites block traffic that looks automated, no matter who sent it. This is the oldest reason, and the most common. **Ads.** Many websites earn money from ads, and agents don't look at ads. So some of these websites don't want agent visits. Security services make this easy: Cloudflare, for example, lets a site owner [block AI bots with one setting](https://blog.cloudflare.com/declaring-your-aindependence-block-ai-bots-scrapers-and-crawlers-with-a-single-click/). **Business choices.** In September 2026, Amazon blocked Meta's Muse from shopping on Amazon. [Forbes wrote about the business reasons](https://www.forbes.com/sites/the-prompt/2026/09/23/amazons-68-billion-reason-to-block-metas-muse/) behind that choice. A store may want you to shop through its own app, its own assistant, or its own ads. That is the store's decision to make. **Terms of service.** Every store has rules for its website. Some rules limit automated shopping. When an agent uses your account, those rules apply to you. TechCrunch called this [the next hurdle for AI agents](https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/06/the-next-hurdle-for-ai-agents-getting-websites-to-let-them-in/): getting websites to let them in. We agree. We also think it helps to be clear about which kind of block you are looking at. ## What we are building: a virtual computer on your device Deputant will run a virtual computer on your own device. Your agent will work inside it. It will use your internet connection and your accounts, the same ones you use when you shop yourself. So when your agent visits a store, the visit comes from your home internet. It comes from your account, with your saved addresses and your order history. It doesn't come from a data center. We think this will help with the first kind of block. Stores are careful with data-center traffic because it is so often bots. A visit from your own device, signed in to your own account, is the kind of visit stores expect from a real customer. You also won't need to set up a server or write code. The virtual computer runs on the device you already have. ## What it does not change We want to be honest about the limits. - **A store's business choice stays the store's choice.** If a store decides it does not want agents, running on your device does not change that decision. - **Each store's rules still apply to you.** Your agent uses your account. The store's terms of service apply the same way they do when you shop yourself. Read them, and follow them. - **You stay in the loop.** If a store asks you to prove you are a human, your agent will stop and ask you. We will not build tools that solve those checks or get around a store's security. - **Some tasks will still fail.** Websites change. Agents make mistakes. A virtual computer on your device removes one common problem. It doesn't remove every problem. ## Why we chose this approach There are two ways to get an agent into a store. One way is to hide what it is. The other way is to make the visit what it looks like: a real customer, on their own device, with their own account, who asked a helper to do a task. We chose the second way. It is more honest, and we think it lasts longer. Stores are still deciding how they want to treat agents. Those decisions should be made in the open, by the stores, with real customers in the picture. ## Where we are We're building the virtual computer now. We have no partnership with Amazon, Meta, Cloudflare, or any store or agent company, and we can't speak for any of them. If you want to try it when early access opens, join the waitlist. We will email you when it is ready. ## Supercharge your digital life We're rolling out access in waves. Join the waitlist, and we'll email you when your spot opens. [Join the waitlist](https://deputant.com/#join) [All posts](https://deputant.com/blog.md)