option
Home
News
Several US Media Outlets Block Internet Archive's Wayback Machine Crawler to Prevent AI Training Abuse

Several US Media Outlets Block Internet Archive's Wayback Machine Crawler to Prevent AI Training Abuse

June 28, 2026
68

As reported by Wired, several major media outlets and platforms—including The New York Times, Reddit, and USA Today's parent company—have recently blocked the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. The move is intended to prevent AI companies from using the archive tool to indirectly scrape copyrighted material for model training.

Illustration of a robot hacker

The irony of blocking while benefiting

Ironically, USA Today's recent in-depth investigation into immigration policy statistics relied on historical data preserved by the Wayback Machine. Yet the media group's spokesperson stated they have fully blocked all crawlers, including ia_archiverbot, to address the growing risk of AI infringement.

How media organizations are applying restrictions

At least 23 mainstream news websites have now implemented restrictions:

Complete blocking: The New York Times and Reddit have directly blocked the Wayback Machine's dedicated crawler.

Interface filtering: The Guardian has not fully blocked crawlers but has excluded its content from the Internet Archive's API and filtered its search interface, making it extremely difficult for users to access historical archives.

In response to these blocking actions, over 100 active journalists, including Rachel Maddow, have co-signed a letter of support to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). They describe the Wayback Machine as an "indispensable tool" for fact-checking, tracking changes in the behavior of powerful institutions, and preserving digital history.

Publishers argue that AI companies training on the Internet Archive's vast data violates copyright law and directly competes with them. However, Internet Archive director Mark Graham warns that the ongoing closure of public web content is seriously undermining society's ability to understand historical truths and conduct public oversight. If this trend continues, a large portion of early digital records may be at risk of complete loss.

Related article
Claude Opus 5.2 Night Gray Launches with Faster Response, Solving Laziness Issue Claude Opus 5.2 Night Gray Launches with Faster Response, Solving Laziness Issue Opus 5.2 quietly launched this morning, prompting many developers to notice that the updated model, Claude Opus 5.2, has begun a limited rollout within Claude Code.Yesterday evening, X users observed that invoking Opus 5 in Claude Code yielded perfor
Fireworks AI Unveils FireRouter with Opus: Cuts Encoding Costs by 57% with Minimal Accuracy Drop Fireworks AI Unveils FireRouter with Opus: Cuts Encoding Costs by 57% with Minimal Accuracy Drop Fireworks AI has introduced FireRouter with Opus, the industry’s first cache-aware routing system tailored for the Claude Opus series. Now accessible via a serverless endpoint, this independent routing model underwent over a month of internal A/B tes
NVIDIA Unveils Nemotron-Labs-Audex-30B-A3B Unified Audio Intelligence Model NVIDIA Unveils Nemotron-Labs-Audex-30B-A3B Unified Audio Intelligence Model As multimodal large models evolve rapidly, audio processing capabilities are frequently compromised—many models improve audio understanding at the expense of text logic. To address this, NVIDIA researchers have introduced Nemotron-Labs-Audex-30B-A3B
Related Special Topic Recommendations
Data Analysis Best AI Chart Builder Tools for Fast Reporting
Best AI Chart Builder Tools for Fast Reporting

2026 Latest Best Top-rated AI Chart Builder Tools for Fast Reporting are here on XIX.AI! This curated list features powerful game-changing tools that deliver accurate professional charts with just a few clicks, helping you boost writing efficiency and streamline content creation. Get a free vs paid comparison along with real-world tests and detailed rankings to find the must-try solution for your needs. Explore now to unlock your AI edge!

9 tools
xix.ai
chatbot AI Live Chat Routing Tools for Ecommerce Queues, VIP Buyers, and Return Requests
AI Live Chat Routing Tools for Ecommerce Queues, VIP Buyers, and Return Requests

2026 Latest Best Top-rated AI Live Chat Routing Tools for Ecommerce Queues, VIP Buyers, and Return Requests. This curated list features powerful game-changing solutions that boost productivity dramatically through real-world tests. It includes a free vs paid comparison along with detailed rankings to help you find the perfect fit. XIX.AI stands out as a trusted provider in this space. Explore now to Unlock your AI edge!

9 tools
xix.ai
writing Best AI Editing Tools for ESL Writers: Improve Tone, Grammar, and Flow
Best AI Editing Tools for ESL Writers: Improve Tone, Grammar, and Flow

2026 Latest Best Top-Rated AI Editing Tools for ESL Writers are here on XIX.AI! This curated list features powerful game-changing tools that go through real-world tests to ensure accuracy. You can find a free vs paid comparison alongside detailed rankings to help you pick the must-try solution that boosts your writing tone, grammar, and flow perfectly. Explore now to Unlock your AI edge!

9 tools
xix.ai
Software Development Best AI Bug Triage Tools for Engineering Teams
Best AI Bug Triage Tools for Engineering Teams

2026 Latest Best Top-Rated AI Bug Triage Tools for Engineering Teams! XIX.AI has curated a powerful, game-changing collection of must-try tools that go through rigorous real-world tests to deliver accurate issue analysis and efficient resolution. Get a free vs paid comparison along with detailed rankings to help you find the perfect solution that boosts your team’s productivity significantly. Explore now to unlock your AI edge!

9 tools
xix.ai
Image editing Best AI Portrait Enhancers: Improve Lighting, Skin Tone, and Sharpness
Best AI Portrait Enhancers: Improve Lighting, Skin Tone, and Sharpness

2026 Latest Best Top-rated AI Portrait Enhancers curated for ultimate image quality. These powerful tools deliver game-changing results by boosting lighting, skin tone, and sharpness effortlessly, perfect for creators needing to enhance photos quickly. XIX.AI provides a free vs paid comparison along with real-world tests and weekly updated rankings. Discover your perfect tool to unlock your AI edge today. Explore now!

7 tools
xix.ai
writing AI Technical Documentation Tools for API Guides, Release Notes, and Onboarding Docs
AI Technical Documentation Tools for API Guides, Release Notes, and Onboarding Docs

2026 Latest Best Top-rated AI Technical Documentation Tools for API Guides Release Notes and Onboarding Docs. This curated list features powerful game-changing solutions that streamline content creation boost writing efficiency and save time across all project phases. XIX.AI provides weekly updated rankings along with free vs paid comparison results from real-world tests. Explore now to Discover your perfect tool and Unlock your AI edge.

10 tools
xix.ai
Comments (0)
0/500
OR