United, Amazon, Target: The Companies Now Banning AI Agents

United Airlines said Wednesday it will block unauthorized AI agents from searching, booking, buying or managing trips on its platforms, making it the latest major company to shut out automated shoppers. Amazon, eBay, Target, Booking.com, Resy and Yelp have all rolled out similar bans or restrictions in recent months, citing privacy, security and regulatory risks.

The bans land as AI agents go mainstream. Meta released its Muse assistant in September, and similar tools like Instinct followed. ChatGPT and Claude have both added agentic capabilities too. The bots can browse, buy and book on a user's behalf — and that's exactly what platforms are now refusing to allow.

Why are companies pulling the plug?

The stated reasons cluster around three concerns. First, privacy and security: companies don't want third-party bots touching customer accounts and data. Second, there's the risk of unintended purchases. Third, there's a quieter commercial worry — speculation that sites lose traffic when humans stop visiting directly to browse, buy or book.

United's rationale is the most specific. The airline flagged a regulatory trap: an agent checking in on behalf of a flyer could violate federal rules that require a human to acknowledge their bags contain no banned items, such as explosives. Security and regulatory risks drove the decision.

Who's banned, and how?

• Amazon. GeekWire reported in September that Muse users shopping on Amazon saw a popup: "continued access by an unauthorized AI agent violates Amazon's Conditions of Use, to which our customers have agreed." Amazon's conditions don't explicitly ban all agents, but the company reserves the right — "at our sole discretion" — to limit "whether and how any Agent accesses, uses, and interacts with Amazon Services," including through technical measures.
• Booking.com. Automated assistants can't make bookings or reservations without express permission, and AI assistants can't access the platform at all without prior authorization. The company says it will block anyone it suspects of using an AI assistant.
• eBay. The marketplace updated its user agreement to prohibit unauthorized automated access, specifically naming "buy-for-me agents," "LLM-driven bots," and any "end-to-end flow that attempts to place orders without human review."
• Resy. The restaurant booking platform takes a pickier approach. It supports discovery and booking through ChatGPT and Claude, but can block AI activity outside those approved services. Resy cited platform security and excessive demand on its system. Users who break the rules could have their accounts terminated.
• Target. The retailer's terms prohibit AI shopping agents from accessing or gathering data unless explicitly authorized. The approved list includes "Target's AI Shopping Assistant, OAI, Google and Microsoft." Approved agents can sign in to accounts, build carts, place orders and initiate returns with customer permission. Target can change the list or cut off agents at any time.
• United Airlines. Unauthorized AI agents may not search, book, buy or manage trips. The airline cited security, regulatory risk and the possibility of unintended purchases.
• Yelp. No non-human traffic without express permission. Yelp runs a paid data-licensing program that allows agents to access data and take certain actions through approved integrations — including one that lets ChatGPT users make reservations.

What does this change for marketers?

The split is already visible. Walmart, by contrast, is adding AI-agent shopping features while Amazon blocks bots. That divergence means brands now face a real strategic choice: open the storefront to agents and sell through them, or defend direct traffic and keep the customer relationship — and the data — in-house.

The whitelist model is the middle path. Target, Resy and Yelp all permit specific, named agents while blocking everyone else, often through paid or approved integrations. That preserves control over who transacts and under what terms, and it turns agent access into something a platform can sell or negotiate rather than simply lose.

One thing is clear: the era of unrestricted bot traffic is ending. Any brand running an e-commerce or booking platform needs an explicit agent policy — permitted list, blocked behaviors, and enforcement mechanism — because the agents are already knocking.