A shadowy effort is attempting to pressure AdGuard into blocking Archive.today, raising concerns about fraudulent takedown demands just as a federal investigation into the site intensifies.
According to a new report, AdGuard was urged to block the archiving service over allegedly illegal content, but the complaints showed multiple signs of manipulation.
Archive.today, also known as Archive.is and Archive.ph, has operated since 2012 and allows users to create permanent snapshots of web pages. The service is widely used to preserve disappearing or paywalled content, but its opaque ownership and lack of a formal copyright-takedown process have long drawn scrutiny. Harmful material can persist until manually removed.
The platform revealed it was subject to an investigation on October 30, when it posted an FBI subpoena issued to its registrar, Tucows. The agency is seeking subscriber identities, IP logs, payment data, and service metadata. The subpoena does not specify the target of the probe, though speculation has focused on potential copyright issues or the preservation of CSAM through user-submitted snapshots.
Obscure French group pressures AdGuard
AdGuard says it was contacted in late October 2025 by the Web Abuse Association Defense (WAAD), a newly created French organization claiming to combat online child exploitation. WAAD demanded that AdGuard block Archive.today at the DNS level, asserting that the site ignored previous removal requests.
AdGuard
The demand raised immediate red flags. DNS providers are rarely targeted with such notices, and WAAD’s tone escalated into what AdGuard describes as “direct threats.” While France’s LCEN law could, in theory, apply to DNS services under Article 6-I-7, AdGuard says WAAD failed to meet the legal criteria.
AdGuard
Archive.today denied receiving any of the earlier complaints WAAD cited. The site told AdGuard it had already removed the referenced URLs and warned of a “campaign of serial complaints” from French entities aimed at disrupting access to the service by targeting supporting infrastructure.
AdGuard’s review of WAAD uncovered further inconsistencies. The group’s website and X account were both newly registered with minimal activity. The “bailiff reports” used to support its claims were constats d’huissier, notarized screenshots obtained via Qualijuris, not court orders. They were dated August 2025, contradicting WAAD’s assertion that its efforts began in 2023.
Preparing legal action
AdGuard says the WAAD incident shows how poorly vetted groups can exploit European laws to pressure infrastructure providers. Under LCEN Article 6-I-4, filing false or misleading takedown notices is a criminal offense punishable by up to one year in prison and a €15,000 fine. The company plans to file a complaint with French authorities over WAAD’s communications.
Combined with the FBI’s sweeping subpoena, the DNS-level pressure suggests Archive.today is facing escalating scrutiny on multiple fronts, and that someone may be trying to quietly curtail its reach through questionable legal tactics.
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