Spain has blocked access to Archive.today and six of its mirror domains, cutting off a popular service used to save copies of webpages and preserve online information. The affected domains include archive.today, archive.is, archive.ph, archive.li, archive.md, archive.fo and archive.vn.

The service lets users take snapshots of websites and access them later, even if the original page is deleted or changed. It is widely used by journalists, researchers, fact-checkers and others who need to preserve information online.

The block was ordered through Spain’s Intellectual Property Commission under the country’s copyright enforcement system. Authorities claim the service facilitates access to copyrighted material.

The order affects access from Spain, rather than removing the service globally. Critics of such blocks argue that copyright enforcement can also restrict legitimate archiving, research and access to information.

Archive.today has faced legal pressure and blocking in other jurisdictions before. The latest move adds Spain to the list of countries where the service is restricted.

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Spain has blocked Archive.today and six mirror domains—archive.is, archive.ph, archive.li, archive.md, archive.fo and archive.vn—under copyright enforcement. The web-preservation service is widely used by journalists and researchers.

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Spain, Archive.today, archive.is, archive.ph, archive.li, archive.md, archive.fo, archive.vn, web archiving, digital preservation, copyright enforcement, intellectual property, internet censorship, website blocking, DNS blocking, access to information, journalists, researchers, Comisión de Propiedad Intelectual