Heads Up, AI Founders: The Scraping-Based Business Model is Getting Riskier

I just got an email from Apify letting me know that an actor I've used, specifically one for scraping Apollo.io, has been shut down for "compliance reasons."

This isn't just an inconvenience; it's a critical warning sign for any of us building businesses that rely on data from third-party platforms. Let's break down what this really means.

When a platform like Apify removes a tool for "compliance reasons," it's almost always a legal or quasi-legal issue. It means the tool was likely violating the target website's rules in a way that creates an unacceptable risk for the platform and its users.

This is a real-world example of a major operational risk for AI businesses, especially those in lead generation, market research, or data enrichment.

The bottom line is this: While scraping is technically easy, it is not a legally or commercially stable strategy for acquiring core business data. This move by Apify is part of a larger trend of platforms cracking down on unauthorized data extraction.

-- Attorney Tatyana

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