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An Update on Wayback Machine Access

Posted on September 15, 2026 by Mark Graham

We’ve heard you: “Fix the Wayback Machine!”
Here’s what’s going on. The Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine has been hit by waves of high-volume automated traffic, and we’ve put protections in place to keep the service running. One recent change: we rewrote the message you see when a request is blocked with a 429 error — the HTTP code that means “too many requests.”
Those protections sometimes catch real people by mistake. If that’s happened to you, we’re sorry, and we appreciate your patience while we work to reduce the errors.
We’re getting better at telling abusive bots apart from the people who depend on the Wayback Machine every day. If you think you were blocked in error, email info@archive.org with your operating system, browser, and IP address, and we’ll look into it.

Posted in Announcements, Wayback Machine - Web Archive | Tagged Wayback Machine |
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About Mark Graham
Mark Graham is the Director of the Wayback Machine.

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The Internet Archive has issued an update regarding access to the Wayback Machine, addressing challenges posed by high-volume automated traffic that has impacted the service. To maintain operational stability, the Internet Archive implemented protective measures against these requests. A specific change detailed in the update is the rewriting of the notification message displayed when a request is blocked with a 429 error, which signifies that the server is handling too many requests. The stated goal of these measures is to better differentiate between abusive bots and legitimate users who depend on the Wayback Machine service. The authors acknowledge that these automated protections occasionally result in the mistaken blocking of genuine users, for which they apologize and express appreciation for the patience of the community while they work to reduce these errors. To facilitate error resolution, the Internet Archive provides a mechanism for users who believe they were blocked in error to report the issue. Users are instructed to email info@archive.org, providing their operating system, browser, and IP address so that the team can investigate the situation. Mark Graham, the Director of the Wayback Machine, is responsible for these developments and the ongoing management of the service.