Wikipedia blacklists Archive.today, starts removing 695,000 archive links

February 21, 2026
Wikipedia blacklists Archive.today, starts removing 695,000 archive links

So, here’s something that caught my attention — Wikipedia’s pulling the plug on Archive.today, and it’s pretty serious. According to Jon Brodkin at Ars Technica, the English Wikipedia community has decided to blacklist the site after it was used to launch a DDoS attack against a blog. Now, here’s where it gets even more interesting — editors found that Archive.today was actually altering its snapshots, inserting the name of a blogger targeted by the attack. As Brodkin reports, this wasn’t just about security; it was personal. The site’s operators seemed to have a grudge, especially after a post exposed how they hide their identity with aliases. So what does this mean for you? Well, Wikipedia’s making it clear — reliable links matter. They’re removing 695,000 archive links and banning a site that’s shown it can’t be trusted. It’s a reminder that even archival tools aren’t immune to controversy or manipulation. Keep an eye on who you trust online — things are shifting quickly.

The English-language edition of Wikipedia is blacklisting Archive.today after the controversial archive site was used to direct a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack against a blog.

In the course of discussing whether Archive.today should be deprecated because of the DDoS, Wikipedia editors discovered that the archive site altered snapshots of webpages to insert the name of the blogger who was targeted by the DDoS. The alterations were apparently fueled by a grudge against the blogger over a post that described how the Archive.today maintainer hid their identity behind several aliases.

"There is consensus to immediately deprecate archive.today, and, as soon as practicable, add it to the spam blacklist (or create an edit filter that blocks adding new links), and remove all links to it," stated an update today on Wikipedia's Archive.today discussion. "There is a strong consensus that Wikipedia should not direct its readers towards a website that hijacks users' computers to run a DDoS attack (see WP:ELNO#3). Additionally, evidence has been presented that archive.today's operators have altered the content of archived pages, rendering it unreliable."

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The English-language edition of Wikipedia is blacklisting Archive.today after the controversial archive site was used to direct a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack against a blog.

In the course of discussing whether Archive.today should be deprecated because of the DDoS, Wikipedia editors discovered that the archive site altered snapshots of webpages to insert the name of the blogger who was targeted by the DDoS. The alterations were apparently fueled by a grudge against the blogger over a post that described how the Archive.today maintainer hid their identity behind several aliases.

"There is consensus to immediately deprecate archive.today, and, as soon as practicable, add it to the spam blacklist (or create an edit filter that blocks adding new links), and remove all links to it," stated an update today on Wikipedia's Archive.today discussion. "There is a strong consensus that Wikipedia should not direct its readers towards a website that hijacks users' computers to run a DDoS attack (see WP:ELNO#3). Additionally, evidence has been presented that archive.today's operators have altered the content of archived pages, rendering it unreliable."

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