The Internet Archive has been hit with a series of DDoS attacks this week that have taken the service offline. The Verge noticed a popup on the site today when the online database went down. The popup has since disappeared, but the site is not currently available.
Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle has been publishing updates on the attacks on X, with the latest news simply that the team is attempting to bring the site back online. A DDoS organization known as Blackmeta claimed responsibility for the attacks with a confusing message that the platform “belongs to the USA.” The Internet Archive is a non-profit that provides free access to a vast library of software and media, as well as hosting the Wayback Machine web archive.
This isn’t the first time it has been targeted by DDoS attacks, but this week’s attacks are the latest in a string of bad news for the Internet Archive. The platform has been fighting a legal battle over ebook copyrights and recently lost its appeal in the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.