Russia restricts access to Archive.today, a website for bypassing paywalls

Russian authorities have blocked the popular paywall bypass website Archive.today, along with its associated domains including .is and .ph. When accessed from Russia, visitors encounter a message stating that the resource is blocked by government decision, citing the federal censorship agency Roskomnadzor. While the official reason for the restriction has not been disclosed, Roskomnadzor confirmed that access to Archive.is is limited but provided no further explanation. Despite the block, the site remains accessible from other regions and users can still archive web pages. Archive.today allows users to save and view copies of websites, including content behind subscription or paywall restrictions. The website recently faced controversy when Wikipedia editors removed links to it, citing a discovery that Archive.today’s code directed visitors’ browsers to send automated traffic to a blogger critical of the service. There is currently no comment from Archive.today regarding the Russian block, and the scope and enforcement of the restriction remain unclear.