diff --git a/tagtotoot.py b/tagtotoot.py
index 9a834e3..894bb40 100644
--- a/tagtotoot.py
+++ b/tagtotoot.py
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 """Scrape mastodon tag searches and feed into your search."""
-import yaml
 import sys
+import urllib.robotparser
+import urllib.parse
 
+import yaml
 import requests
 
 
@@ -10,9 +12,11 @@ def fetch_toots(conf):
     for instance in conf.get("instances", []):
         for tag in conf.get("tags", []):
             try:
-                curr_posts = requests.get(
-                    f"https://{instance}/tags/{tag}.json"
-                ).json()
+                uri = f"https://{instance}/tags/{tag}.json"
+                if _check_path_allowed(uri):
+                    curr_posts = requests.get(
+                       uri 
+                    ).json()
             except Exception as e:
                 print("Got some error fetching toots, continuing...")
                 print(e)
@@ -34,6 +38,14 @@ def search_for(toots):
             print(e)
 
 
+def _check_path_allowed(uri):
+    rp = urllib.robotparser.RobotFileParser()
+    scheme, netloc, _, _, _, _ = urllib.parse.urlparse(uri)
+    rp.set_url(f"{scheme}://{netloc}/robots.txt")
+    rp.read()
+    return rp.can_fetch('*', uri)
+
+
 def __check_lst_of_str(a):
     return bool(a) and isinstance(a, list) and all(isinstance(elem, str) for elem in a)