The Internet Archive has stopped hosting backups for Kiwi Farms. This continues the forum’s demonetization from all major web platforms. A Twitch streamer, Clara “Keffals,” announced the site’s removal yesterday. A second backup site was also removed. Searching either one returns the response, “this URL has not been included in the Wayback Machine.”
Cloudflare, the security provider, has taken down the main Kiwi Farms website. They cited an “immediate danger to human life” due to threats and criminal actions by Kiwi Farms users. However, threads of many of the threads could be accessed through the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine until yesterday. These included posts with personal information on Kiwi Farms targets.
Although the Internet Archive did not respond to a request to confirm that it had excluded the domain, Joshua Moon, administrator at Kiwi Farms, criticized the Telegram removal, suggesting that the site was not blocked by its operators.
This would be a strange decision for the Wayback Machine. It automatically crawls the internet to create a backup and copy of many sites and pages. Site owners can exclude domains from their site, but they are rarely deleted except for copyright reasons. The Internet Archive has protested previous requests to delete terrorist content. However, controversial sites such as 8chan remain on the Wayback Machine. Unaffiliated archives sites, which save domains on the request of users and not automatically, have kept their backups of Kiwi Farms.
Drop Kiwi Farms supporters celebrated the Internet Archive’s decision. Yonah Gerber tweeted, “Internet heroes right there,” and urged the Archive not to remove the site. Kiwi Farms is well-known for publishing personal information about its targets, many of which are transgender women such as Sorrenti. Although the site discourages harassment directly, Sorrenti was subject to swatting attacks and persistent threats. Other victims have also faced similar unpleasant experiences. Three suicides have been linked to Kiwi Farms, including one perpetrator of a harassment campaign that the site was accused of sponsoring.
Moon created a Tor-based backup for Kiwi Farms. However, Moon has had difficulty finding companies that would host a reliable replacement. The Wayback Machine was one of the most effective ways to share information offline. Although it doesn’t completely remove the site from the internet, removing that backup does not erase its existence. However, it is one of the closest alternatives.
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