News sites increasingly blocking Internet Archive's Wayback Machine over AI training concerns (heise.de)

• Over 382 news sites now block the Wayback Machine, a 50% increase since January 2026.
• Predominantly local U.S. newspapers, but also international outlets like the New York Times.
• European media including El País and Le Monde are blocked; none from Germany currently.
• Internet Archive had announced in 2017 it would not strictly follow robots.txt but respects current blocks.

"An analysis by the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University reveals that more than 340 news sites have blocked the Wayback Machine to prevent their content from being used for AI training. The number of blocking sites increased by over 50% between January and May 2026, reaching 382, predominantly local US newspapers but also international outlets like the New York Times. European media are affected, but none from Germany. The Internet Archive had announced in 2017 that it would no longer strictly comply with robots.txt, but appears to respect current blocks."