Fan-Fiction Giant AO3 Offline For Weeks After Security Incident
Archive of Our Own (AO3), the volunteer-run fan-fiction site, went down Thursday for what began as maintenance, and its nonprofit operator, the Organization for Transformative Works, then said it had detected evidence of a security incident. OTW says no AO3 data was deleted, but it cannot rule out theft of the user database, which may include usernames, emails, IP addresses and hashed passwords. It expects the site to be down at least two weeks and up to four, and urges users to change any reused passwords.
What’s confirmed
- Archive of Our Own (AO3), the volunteer-run fan-fiction site, went down Thursday for what began as maintenance, and its nonprofit operator, the Organization for Transformative Works, then said it had detected evidence of a security incident.
- OTW says no AO3 data was deleted, but it cannot rule out theft of the user database, which may include usernames, emails, IP addresses and hashed passwords.
- It expects the site to be down at least two weeks and up to four, and urges users to change any reused passwords.
Confirmed by 2 independent outlets: TechCrunch and Engadget.
What would move the score
- Now: 93% with 2 independent confirmations plus the primary source.
- Up: more independent outlets or primary records confirming the core claim.
- Down: a counted source correcting or walking back its report, or new evidence that weakens the claim.
Any change is logged below with the time and the old and new score. Corrections policy
Confirmation record
Plus the primary source: the OTW status page.| ✓ | TechCrunch Counted https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/29/fan-fiction-site-archive-of-our-own-could-be-offline-for-up-to-4-weeks/ |
| ✓ | Engadget Counted https://www.engadget.com/2301753/ao3-fanfiction-website-down-for-weeks/ |
| · | Primary source Plus the primary source: the OTW status page. https://www.otwstatus.org/incidents/g12jnxck9g6h |
Updated / Corrected log
- Published at 93% with 2 independent confirmations.
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TruthRank card · narrated, captions availableAny correction is logged here with its time and the reason. See our corrections policy.
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