Disclosed are a method and system for scalable distribution of semantic web updates. A first embodiment of the invention leverages publish/subscribe technology to distribute those updates such that clients receive only the information they require. A second embodiment of the invention uses an access control feature to limit the statements clients are allowed to read. Optionally, in this second embodiment, the same publish/subscribe messaging infrastructure may be used both to distribute updated semantic web data, and also to distribute relevant changes to the access control information. The invention is particularly well suited for use with the Resource Description Framework (RDF) language.