News publishers limit Internet Archive access due to AI scraping concerns
Hacker News
February 14, 2026
AI-Generated Deep Dive Summary
News publishers like The Guardian and The New York Times are taking proactive steps to limit access to their content on the Internet Archive, driven by concerns about AI scraping. These outlets have identified the nonprofit’s archives as potential backdoors for AI crawlers seeking training data, leading them to block access to certain APIs and URLs linked to their articles. While the Wayback Machine itself is less of a threat due to its unstructured nature, publishers are prioritizing compliance and protection of their intellectual property over the broader mission of preserving digital content.
The Internet Archive’s role as a repository for trillions of webpage snapshots has made it a target for AI companies looking for structured data. Publishers like The Guardian and NYT are now filtering out specific pages from the Wayback Machine and blocking access to their paywalled content through tools like robots.txt files. This move reflects a broader shift in how news organizations are managing their digital presence, balancing the need to protect their IP with the desire to maintain public access to historical records.
The Financial Times has also implemented similar measures, blocking AI scraping attempts from major players like OpenAI and Anthropic. These publishers argue that while the Internet Archive is often seen as a “good guy” in the fight against information disorder, its infrastructure could inadvertently enable misuse by malicious actors. This dilemma highlights the growing tension between content preservation and intellectual property protection in an era of advancing AI capabilities.
For readers interested in tech, this story underscores the evolving landscape of data access and control. As AI becomes increasingly integrated into content creation and analysis, traditional news outlets are reevaluating their relationships with digital archives like the Internet Archive. The balance between democratizing information and safeguarding proprietary content is becoming a critical issue for both publishers and tech companies.
Ultimately, this shift raises important questions about the future of digital preservation and access to knowledge. While publishers like The Guardian acknowledge the importance of the Internet Archive’s mission, they are now prioritizing their own protections over broader principles of free information. This decision could have long-term implications for how historical web content is archived and accessed by the public, marking a potential turning point in the relationship between news organizations and digital archives.
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Originally published on Hacker News on 2/14/2026