As news organizations increasingly block the Wayback Machine, the world’s premier independent third party archive of the Internet, tech justice group Fight for the Future launches a petition demanding news publishers commit to getting the work of today’s journalists preserved.
“2026 is the first World Press Freedom Day in 30 years that journalists’ work at major media outlets including New York Times, The Atlantic, and USA Today is not being preserved by the independent, nonprofit Internet Archive. We are calling on you and on all news outlets to publicly commit to working with the Internet Archive to keep the news in the Wayback Machine,” reads a petition that tech justice group Fight for the Future has launched.
The public petition addressed to leadership at major news outlets comes on the heels of a letter that journalists delivered to the Internet Archive, thanking them for their work as an essential resource in journalism. When signing, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow called the Internet Archive "a national treasure.” Adding “I use it daily, and have for many, many years. I cannot imagine doing the work I do without it.”
Since its initial delivery, another 200 journalists have signed the letter, bringing the total to over 200 and including staff at Washington Post, Politico, The Globe and Mail, various NPR affiliates, and many local news outlets.
The public petition is open for signatures at https://savethearchive.com/newsleaders
The journalist letter remains open for signatures at https://savethearchive.com/journalists — where many quotes from signatories can also be found.
“On World Press Freedom Day 2026, we are launching this petition in solidarity with journalists the world over and with the Internet Archive. All they want to do is get the news to the people, for generations to come,” said Lia Holland (they/she) the lead organizer of the campaign at tech justice group Fight for the Future. “The AI scaries have gone too far, because now they’re threatening the historical record. News publishers need to be meeting with the Internet Archive to work this out and find a way for the news to be preserved. The Archive has been nothing but respectful even as wild confusion spreads about all these knockoff sites that are being used to jump paywalls and for AI scraping, and the nonprofit’s unwavering goodwill shows what a responsible partner they are for news preservation in the long term. I’m hopeful that news leaders will agree that it’s in their interest and a testament to their integrity to continue their 30 year tradition of allowing the Wayback Machine to preserve the news. There is a way to not let AI ruin everything, but to get there we have to talk to each other.”