Full Breakdown
Wikipedia Blacklists Archive.today Following DDoS Attack and Content Tampering
2/21/2026, 7:42:28 AM
Overview of the Blacklisting Decision
The English-language edition of Wikipedia has officially blacklisted Archive.today, a controversial archiving site, after it was implicated in a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack against a blog. This decision follows revelations that Archive.today altered archived web pages to include the name of the targeted blogger, indicating a personal vendetta against them. Wikipedia editors reached a consensus to deprecate the site, citing concerns over its reliability and ethical implications.
Evidence of Malicious Activity
The DDoS attack and subsequent content manipulation prompted Wikipedia editors to investigate Archive.today's practices. The findings revealed that the site not only facilitated the attack but also modified archived content, rendering it unreliable for users seeking accurate information. An update from Wikipedia's community stated, “There is strong consensus that Wikipedia should not direct its readers towards a website that hijacks users’ computers to run a DDoS attack.” This led to the decision to remove all links to Archive.today from Wikipedia pages, which number over 695,000 across approximately 400,000 entries.
Community Response and Implementation
In light of the blacklisting, Wikipedia editors have been urged to assist in the removal and replacement of links to Archive.today and its associated domains, including archive.is, archive.ph, and others. The guidance suggests that editors should replace these links with alternatives like the Internet Archive, Ghostarchive, or Megalodon, or remove them entirely if the original source remains accessible and unchanged.
Criticism of the Decision
While the decision to blacklist Archive.today has garnered significant support within the Wikipedia community, some editors expressed concerns about the potential loss of utility that Archive.today provided, particularly in bypassing paywalls for news articles. Proponents of maintaining the status quo argued that the site was valuable for verifiability. However, the consensus ultimately leaned towards prioritizing user safety and content integrity over convenience.
Official Statements
Wikipedia's community update emphasized the need for a reliable and ethical approach to archiving, stating, “An analysis of existing links has shown that most of its uses can be replaced.” This reflects a commitment to ensuring that Wikipedia remains a trustworthy resource for its users.
What's Next
Following the blacklisting, Wikipedia's editorial community will focus on implementing the removal of Archive.today links and exploring alternative archiving solutions. The FBI's interest in the identity of Archive.today's operator, through a subpoena to domain registrar Tucows, may also lead to further developments regarding the site's future and its operators.
Verbatim Quotes
- “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,” — Wikipedia Community Update
- “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).” — Wikipedia Community Update
