Spain’s Intellectual Property Commission has ordered internet providers to block Archive.today, a service that preserves webpages through permanent snapshots, under the country’s copyright-enforcement system. The order covers archive.fo, archive.is, archive.li, archive.md, archive.ph, archive.today and archive.vn.
The decision came from the Second Section of Spain’s Intellectual Property Commission, known as S2CPI, a national body attached to the Ministry of Culture. It followed a complaint from an unnamed rights holder and cited copyright infringement as the basis for the measure.
No court ruling was involved. The commission issued the block through an administrative process, rather than a judicial proceeding. Authorities have not publicly identified the rights holder behind the complaint or the specific material said to have prompted it.
Some providers began restricting access in mid-August. The measure then extended to further operators during the following weeks. As of 17 September 2026, Archive.today is being blocked in Spain.
The service creates copies of webpages that remain available through permanent links after an original page has been changed or removed. It has long been used by researchers, journalists and activists seeking to preserve online material.
Spanish users whose access is blocked may be sent to a government notice headed: 'YOU ARE TRYING TO ACCESS AN ILLEGAL WEBSITE.' The notice says the sites allegedly facilitate illegal access to material protected by intellectual-property rights.
It also warns users that seeking access to the content contributes to 'illegal and criminal activity' and could expose their security, data and devices to risk. The warning is a statement of the authorities’ position. The publicly available information does not specify the works at issue or the full scope of the intellectual-property complaint.
The result seen by a user depends on both the internet provider and the connection method. When a restriction is applied through HTTPS, a user may receive a connection error. On unencrypted HTTP connections, some users are redirected to the Ministry of Culture’s blocking page.
Implementation has varied between operators. O2 users have seen the official government warning, while Vodafone users have received an unavailable-site notice. Digi users have experienced automatic redirects to alternative domain extensions. Telefónica, Vodafone, Orange, O2 and Digi are among the major operators participating in the blocking.
The action follows a protocol signed in 2021 by the Ministry of Culture, a group of rights holders and major internet service providers. Under that arrangement, the parties committed to blocking website mirrors within 24 hours of notification.
The measure applies to Spanish telecommunications networks. Archive.today remains available globally outside Spain, showing the limited territorial reach of a national network block.
The available information leaves several central questions unresolved. Authorities have not disclosed who initiated the complaint, which archived content was alleged to infringe copyright, or why Archive.today and its listed mirrors were selected for enforcement. It is also unknown whether the order contains terms beyond the seven published domains, or whether other web-archiving services face similar action in Spain.
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