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Reddit will block the Internet Archive
(www.theverge.com)
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this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2025
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Technologically no. Reddit sends out the data to 10s of millions of users as part of their normal operations. They need to try to block those who collect that data for the IA. Reddit has the very short end of the stick.
The problem is that evading such counter-measures may be criminal in the US. Obviously, EU laws are much harsher.
Slightly related, can you explain how (a few times for me) an archived page I tried to revisit got erased?
I don't know their take-down policy. Could be privacy, could be copyright.
I think they are shielded by Section 230 under US law. That means, if they don't do take-downs when requested, they become liable just like the original uploader. So it depends on whether they think they can defend something as fair use. IDK what they do with requests under non-US laws.
Thanks for your detailed explanation.
When I look that up it's specifically about 'defamatory, illegal, or harmful content'.
That would be understandable to take down.
Never encountered that myself, the cases I'm referring to were totally legal content AFAIK.
Only very damaging or proof of something.
As a hypothetical example, let's say an organisation posts it's associated with Epstein in 1999 which now obviously is very inconvenient.
They understandably remove it from their website but it should stil be on the archive if captured before.
However, in similar controversial real cases it wasn't.
So it appears certain forces have more influence to get them to remove content beyond what's legally required.
Since then I always screenshot the archive page.
Hmm. There are many things that could cause legal trouble for the Wayback Machine. I wouldn't jump to conclusions.
You can see on Lemmy that many people would prefer to outlaw scraping, fair use, and all that. Well, not for the "good guys" obviously, but the law doesn't work on vibes. The IA would be legally impossible in most countries. In the EU, it would be a major crime because of copyright and GDPR. It's only the traditional US commitment to free speech and fair use that makes it possible at all.
The IA exists in a legally precarious position. That's not because of any shady backroom dealing. If the crowd in this community had its way, it would be gone.