diff --git a/tests/test_utils.py b/tests/test_utils.py
index 83eff6acf..bc6b3999c 100644
--- a/tests/test_utils.py
+++ b/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -326,6 +326,18 @@ def test_env_var_split(self):
             result = utils.split_env_var(test_case)
             self.assertEqual(result, expected)
 
+    def test_empty_env_var_split(self):
+        "When env var is blank or falsy, return empty list"
+        test_cases = [
+            None,
+            "",
+            [],
+        ]
+        expected = []
+        for test_case in test_cases:
+            result = utils.split_env_var(test_case)
+            self.assertEqual(result, expected)
+
 
 class TestPercentages(TestCase):
     def test_get_percentage(self):
diff --git a/webservices/rest.py b/webservices/rest.py
index 2ba181c1b..2a720f1a3 100644
--- a/webservices/rest.py
+++ b/webservices/rest.py
@@ -145,9 +145,13 @@ def handle_error(error):
 RESTRICT_MESSAGE = "We apologize for the inconvenience, but we are temporarily " \
     "blocking API traffic. Please contact apiinfo@fec.gov if this is an urgent issue."
 
+# list of blocked user agent strings: ex: Googlebot, Bingbot, etc that will be result in the request
+# being blocked if the user-agent header contains any of the specified strings
+BLOCKED_USER_AGENTS = utils.split_env_var(env.get_credential('FEC_API_BLOCKED_USER_AGENTS'))
+
 
 @app.before_request
-def limit_remote_addr():
+def limit_access_based_on_request():
     """
     If `FEC_API_USE_PROXY` is set:
     - Reject all requests that are not routed through the API Umbrella
@@ -176,6 +180,12 @@ def limit_remote_addr():
                 if request_api_key_id not in BYPASS_RESTRICTION_API_KEY_IDS:
                     # Service unavailable
                     abort(503, RESTRICT_MESSAGE)
+    user_agent = request.headers.get('User-Agent')
+    if user_agent and BLOCKED_USER_AGENTS:
+        for blocked_agent in BLOCKED_USER_AGENTS:
+            # user agent contains blocked agent string
+            if blocked_agent in user_agent:
+                abort(403)  # Forbidden
 
 
 def get_cache_header(url):
diff --git a/webservices/utils.py b/webservices/utils.py
index 1540b8613..d0d8f430e 100644
--- a/webservices/utils.py
+++ b/webservices/utils.py
@@ -572,8 +572,14 @@ def post_to_slack(message, channel):
 
 
 def split_env_var(env_var):
-    """ Remove whitespace and split to a list based of comma delimiter"""
-    return env_var.replace(" ", "").split(",")
+    """
+    Remove whitespace and split to a list based of comma delimiter.
+    If env var is None or blank string, return empty list
+    """
+    if env_var:
+        return env_var.replace(" ", "").split(",")
+    else:
+        return []
 
 
 # To display the open_date and close_date of JSON format inside object "mur"