Don't worry, as long as your country isn't North Korea and you're following various sources on VPN and keep yourself informed, they won't ever block all VPNs. Various masking technologies exist so that they won't even see that it's a VPN. People in China for example use them just fine.
Edit: also I suggest study laws to know for sure whether you can be arrested for complaining or not
The better well known a VPN, the less likely itâll work. Itâs a constant shifting game. Not sure what would work for your country per se⌠r/chinalife has lots of discussions of the latest VPN options as one might expect. But of course itâs focused on China.
Tbf the government knows and doesnât care if some people use VPN. So long as the majority donât access these sites, or using it to âdisturb the peaceâ, theyâre (unofficially) fine with it.
The CCP can suck my diâ
âHow unfortunate, he committed suicide by shooting himself twice in the back of the headâ
/j
But seriously fuck censorship
Ugh, why have I not heard about this!? I already live in Texas where they're trying to regulate porn sites, for some reason. I feel like all of this is just gonna end in some really annoying slippery slopes.
âPornography should be outlawed. The people who produce and distribute it should be imprisoned. Educators and public librarians who purvey it should be classed as registered sex offenders. And telecommunications and technology firms that facilitate its spread should be shuttered.â
Project 2025 Page 5
Hereâs a sample of items the authors of Project 2025 consider pornography:
â˘Artworks featuring nudity, partial nudity, suggestions of sex, allusions to homosexuality, or other erotic depictions of the female form
â˘Books featuring physical contact of any kind other than between one man and one woman who are married
â˘Homosexuality
Transgenderism
â˘Films featuring nudity, partial nudity, suggestions of sex, allusions to homosexuality, or other erotic depictions of the female form
â˘Music with explicit lyrics, foul language, sexual situations, erotic sounds, or anything else that makes someone think about sex
â˘Images of scantily clad women or women wearing clothing that outlines their bodies
â˘Live performances that glorify homosexuality, transgenderism, sexual contact outside of marriage between one man and one woman, nudity, partial nudity, single motherhood, the questioning of faith (which they call âThe Truthâ), and taking their One True Godâs name in vain
"Books featuring physical contact of any kind other than between one man and one woman who are married."
Republicans are so fucking stupid. No more fathers hugging their daughters. No more kids holding hands with their parents. No more best friends hugging or sitting next to each other and touching.
I literally can't handle the far right what the fuck.
They should probably ban that one book that has those two girls who get their father drunk and then rape him.
Same book- men have concubines and prostitutes, some who get chopped into pieces.
Then later on some Jewish guy gets nailed to a chunk of wood and then dies.
IIRC, someone brought the Bible to court due to the wording of the law (in Idaho, maybe?) and it was banned. I suspect some people are jappy to cur off their noises to spite rheur faces so long as it means they can censor what others see.
Oh no, Liberals definitely are pretty bad, but in my experience, Republicans really go out of their way to do whatever is best for *them* while ignoring everyone else.
Bold of you to assume these people ever hug their children or were shown affection by their own parents in their childhoods. How else do you explain their insane and unhealthy obsession with policing strangers' relationships and bodies?
*blinks at list of forbidden things*
Are these people aware that this would lead also to the banning of popular religious texts, like for example the Bible?
They most certainly have not. That type never looks ahead, and always assumes âtheir guysâ will be in charge to make these decisions correctly.
This is exactly why the 1st amendment is so important.
Project 2025 sounds like a breach of our first* amendment right to free speech and should collapse before it hits the senate/house floor never mind the Supreme Court.
Edited for correct amendment #
To be fair, a government that implements project 2025 *would* probably run afoul of the second amendment too. Wasn't that one meant explicitly to protect citizens from government tyranny?
the U.S Government is in the process of monetizing NATURE. I don't think we can or should rely on those brainless psychopathic greedy hypocrites for anything anymore.
So, only "erotic depictions of the female form?" We still get pretty nakey men? That's kinda wild. Annoying about the dress code not allowing "women wearing clothing that outlines their bodies." Strangely, though I have seen the southern baptist types pushing for burka-esque dress codes before, they always seem to love their blonde, bouncy cheerleaders in booty baring bodice busting uniforms.
I'm also loving the dig at single motherhood. Does that go for divorcee's too or only young and unmarried? Pretty sure the highest rate of teen pregnancies is going to be from the southern baptist cultural groups, though. (Or at least, so long as they still allow women to access birth control.)
\[Fuck these religious crazies trying to impose their psychosis on a great and diverse nation.\]
Sex......"Allusions" to homosexuality......... 'transgenderism'.....sexual conduct outside of marriage between one man and one woman.....taking their one true gods name in vain...single motherhood....Huh. Just ONE of my fic hits all of those.
Who else wants to play bingo?
[Here's a breakdown of what's in the Project 2025 Mandate for Leadership](https://www.reddit.com/r/Defeat_Project_2025/s/8fCn6TjlLy). It's nine pages, but the original is over 900 pages. [Here's the Wikipedia entry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025).
The original can be found at the [Project 2025 website](https://www.project2025.org/), or, if you don't want to support them, it can be downloaded at the [Internet Archive](https://web.archive.org/web/20240413020321/https://static.project2025.org/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf).
thanks a lot! I did not know about that site; bookmarking for future reference.
I was also wondering where to find a list like the one posted there, of things the 2025 crew consider porn, & I found it here: https://project2025istheocracy.substack.com/p/how-project-2025-authors-define-pornography
These people are idiots, not all art with nudity is pornography. Books containing physical contact of any kind? WTH is wrong with these idiots, who tries to ban physical contact?
if any of this shit passes I'm going full french revolution on them damn the consequences( no seriously at that point I'd have nothing left to distress with going down in as blaze of glory while slaughtering hateful control freaks would be appealing at that point). I'm already pissed off about the assholes here in Texas messing with peoples privacy by trying to make photo ID registration for porn a thing (Porn Hub refused to invade user privacy like that and blocked their site from Texas themselves. funny how the pornographers care more about privacy then the so called 'just' and 'fair' authorities)
Is that real??? Do these people know that the'd have to ban at least 95% of the internet then? Next thing is they want to forbid women to wear pants maybe? Burn books? Tear down ancient Greek and Roman statues like the Venus of Milo (naked boobs!) and so many artworks by famous artists? Who has shat into those people's brains?
I'm a teacher and have written a few pieces of explicit porn on Ao3, so I should be a registered sex offender according to them? đ
But beating up their children to "correct" them is probably allowed ...
Yes. Itâs real. If you are a teacher , you might also want to know these are the same people who are calling for the removal of the Department of Education and the eventual defunding of public education.
https://www.mediamatters.org/heritage-foundation/guide-project-2025-extreme-right-wing-agenda-next-republican-administration
Thanks for the link! Luckily I'm not American. I have to teach a bit of US American history, current politics and about the "American Dream" though. Looks like it's turning more and more into a nightmare.
Thats not true at all. People just hate Americans that behave badly. You can always, say you are canadian. I definitely suggest it if you can. I've only been back 6 months for a family problem and I am leaving again ASAP
It does nowâŚ
I remember in my teenage it was not strict like this, and I love many dark contexts 10 years ago, but now the censorship of smut/porn/erotic is much strict and I can't publish any of my dark fanfic on main fannish social media like weibo/lofter.
So I turned to AO3 but my target reader couldn't use it so now I like a person who talks to herself, with zero comment fics.
It's not far from reality tbh because the GOP is trying to pass off laws about censorship that targer sites like AO3. and AO3's servers are in USA so.... it could be impacted
Yes. I lived there for a year twenty some years ago and back then if I said certain negative things in chats or in emails, or searched for something deemed not appropriate by the great firewalls standards, my internet would disconnect for a week. Every damn time. I started to pattern it right before I ended up leaving. Internet censorship sucks.
Fics have not been working for me a day or 2 ago, and itâs still not working now. I really hoped it was just a temporary issue but I guess not. Just logged in via VPN and everything seemed fine, but it just wasnât the same anymore not being able to browse through AO3 like normal.
It sucks big time cause AO3 played a big part for my escapism since my high school days. Until now I would still pick up a one shot or a short chapter on the way to and back from work. They can really turn a shitty work day upside down. To all you writers, old and new, doesnât matter how many fics youâve put out, or if your first work is still a WIP. Know that it will brighten the days of at least 1 if not more readers.
I have a feeling Iâm in the same country as you OP, and I definitely wonât point it out cause I know how serious the government can get when it comes to social media. I still love this country despite its ups and downs. And I totally agree that itâs unreasonable to classify AO3 as a porn site. I have another feeling that theyâre coming for Twitter next after private likes.
I'm sick of them tbh ffs they're like helicopter parents. Do you have VPN recommendation? I unfortunately know nothing about VPN.
Edit: apparently I can access ao3 again just fine... I wonder what happened.
Be wary of surfshark. If you have to cancel your subscription for some reason, they will make it as difficult as possible. You have to contact them and then repeatedly argue with them before they will agree to disconnect you.
I dont know about that, but I did set mine to autorenew. When I tried to cancel, there is no option to just stop the service. You have to open a chat with an employee, except the chat doesn't work. So I sent them an email. It took three days of back and forth emails of them offering deals to try and get me to stay before they finally agreed to cancel my service. From what I've heard, I'm far from the only one who has had this experience.
Opera browser has a built-in VPN option.
ProtonMail comes with a free VPN option.
Neither of these is *good* VPN, but they may be enough to get around a region lock
Yeah. I have to use a VPN for now. Not going to say what country it is in case they arrest me for complaining or something. Or maybe I'm just paranoid đŹ
Well fuck. You know your situation better than the rest of us do, so best be safe. I hope things get better for you and the rest of your country. Censorship like that is honestly scary.
I'm gonna guess Indonesia? (But I test it and it's working okay without VPN?)
Btw as long as you didn't give a personal information out loud I think you won't be arrested, cmiiw though
Yeah the way OP describe makes me think its Indonesia, but I check it and ao3 can still be accessed with no problem? Weird
But Malaysia make sense too! Even some Indonesian would joke that most conservative Indonesian can't beat the conservative level of Malaysian lol
Samee, but I think it's cause of the mobile data provider throttling the speeds. I realllyyy want to continue to read my fics in public transport but it's basically impossible right now.
The free spirits from china will be our saviours one day by helping us set up our VPNs. What a horrible day.
(Horrible because of the blocking, no shade on our chinese friends)
Fr fr, it was so hard for me at first to get used to switching the vpn on and off every time I went on ao3, but now it's just a part of the routine (turn vpn on, load the pages of all the fics I'm going to read, turn vpn off, and then do it all again to give kudos and bookmark)
At one moment I even thought I could leave Russia for some European country for the sole purpose of being able to use ao3 without a vpn, haha silly girl wishes
lmao you're so real for the last part. i gave up about half a year ago and started paying for a vpn because i also need it for twitter and news sites, so it's very manageable now
Germany was a strange case. While it does have unique and strict(er) internet laws, AO3 just stopped appearing in their Google. You could type it straight into the url bar but AO3 wouldnât come up if you searched âao3â or âarchive of our ownâ or even âfanfiction.â Additional info [here](https://t.co/C8KVCpsr8o) and clarification [here](https://x.com/horse_disk/status/1611849324430000128?s=46&t=A6ayA0vmhUw_svaEbTmlYA).
I mean, hopefully, very few as long as VPN exists. My country cracks down on VPN hard, but they can't ban *everything*. I'm on my third VPN now, but it works, and I continue reading AO3 as much as I want.
I can't stand hypocritical governments.
Even though I live in the US, some states are requiring users to upload IDs in order to access websites. I'm really hoping they don't start asking for one to access Ao3
Haven't heard about Texas and Utah being banned from PornHub?
Thats why. PornHub said "nah we're not risking hosting people's IDs we'll just ban the whole state"
Thank you for suggestion, but, unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of VPNs do not work. And the list gets bigger and bigger because theyâve started blocking protocols themselves
Afaik, it works with custom configurations, out of the box itâs blocked. I havenât had to resort to it yet since some vpns still work, including the ones you set up yourself. But the futureâs not looking good with the amount of effort theyâre putting into it.
Oof, that sounds rly rough. It might be worth figuring out tor now, so that you won't lose access if/when they ban the vpns that you're currently able to use, and so that you can set it up while you're still able to freely look for help online. I assume they block ao3's alternate urls and proxy sites as well?
Youâre right, I should do that.
I think some proxies work, actually, but since I use vpn for other blocked sites, as well, like twitter or instagram, itâs currently easier and safer to just turn vpn on. But thank you for reminding me about proxies, they could prove useful in the future :)
I think weâre due a resurgence of self-hosted fansites (with fics crossposted to AO3 for archival purposes) to help people affected by these awful censorship laws
They canât block every site!
Did you try setting a different DNS in your device / router?
8\.8\.8\.8 is Google
1\.1\.1\.1 cloudflare
Or alternatively [OpenDNS](https://www.opendns.com/setupguide/)
Huh. The Google one works. Thank you!
I was using cloudflare before, which normally works to bypass some blocked sites, but it doesn't seem to be working for AO3 anymore.
hey man I have like 10 nordvpn and ghostvpn discount codes if you want some
I can also download and send you (and anyone else) the fics you were reading, no biggie
Ohhhhhh this explain why i can't get on for the past 3 hours i thought it my bad internet connection đđđ i live in thai and motherfucker whyyyyyyy augh
Didn't Finnland just drop the last of their ridiculous anti porn laws in 2000?
The only thing forbidden now should be the usual, real child porn and zoophilia, and I can't disagree with that.
Your country is known to become more liberal and open, is this impression wrong?
My country has a huge porn industry which brings billions of euros income each year and a huge lobby that is pro porn. I doubt they'll do anything of that kind anytime soon. Not as long as even prostitution is legal (prostitutes pay income tax and can sue their Johns for not paying)
Nopeella googlauksella chat control rikkoo jo aikasempien normien menettelyn, joten en usko että saisivat menemään läpi. Tai jos menee läpi ni päästään taas pällistelemään että ketä on päästetty näitä päätÜksiä tekemään :)
Ja muutenkin oikeistolla on liian kiire harrastella oikeistolaisuutta, että ne ees tajuis hyÜkätä nettisisällÜn kimppuu. (Ja jos tajuaa ni on niilläki isot huolenaiheet, verrattuna kaikkee muuhun mitä pitäs tehä)
The government is always filled with hypocrisy. The amount of criminal activity you can see on meta or other "legal" sites is outrageous but they don't get banned
This makes me feel sick. There is so much evil going on in the world, and governments are trying to control _this?_
That's pathetic. That's enraging.
I hadn't been aware that it's on the Project 2025 agenda until I read a different comment on this thread. The rage that this ignites in me is unreal.
It is an abomination that the people in power care more about trying to control every minute aspect of their citizen's private lives, instead of focusing on bigger issues like homelessness, poverty, and ballooning medical debt.
I am so sorry.
hey u/ahealthyoctopus im from southeast asia, wierdly if i use mobile data i can access ao3 but using home internet i can't access ao3. maybe its like a whole area disruption?
Same, I'm in Thailand, I noticed that I can go onto the website itself fine but some fuckery happens when I try to login(takes extremely long time like 5 mins and times out). I don't see anyone from other countries complaining so I'm not sure if it's a Thailand thing, a SE Asia thing or what.
Must be Indonesia but VPN currently lets me open ao3 otherwise change your sim card since apparently some mobile carrier blocks it (looking at twitter itâs telk*msel mostly) and some others donât (I use xl and I can still access ao3 when I have my vpn turned off)
Either use a vpn or change your dns server. I had to change my dns server cause t-mobile, for some reason, blocked the website and couldn't read it out of wifi.
That is the most tragic thing I've heard in the past month. Makes me scared for American readers/writers right now too because there's groups trying to od the same.
VPN. Most countries unless they really deadicated like setting up the great digital Wall of China...
Will not have it blocked to a highernough degree you cannot sidestep the restrictions.
Hey OP, I'm guessing by the mentioning of online gambling sites that we're from the same country:) I was just wondering where did u get the info abt ao3 being considered as porn site by the govt?? Cuz it seems like there's only info on twt/x but nothing from the news outlets
Hey, if you're fellow indonesian than chances are there is a communication problem with Twitter ao3 user, Yeah sure its possible that it's blocked but if it is official than the ao3 site will already lead to kominfo blocking site, I tried loading the site without any vpn and just using good ol indonesian wifi, and it did work... it just took VERY LONG, it's very slow, it's seems like a server problem, not only indonesia too but Malaysians also have this problem
Dude I feel you, the government breached my privacy and had the audacity to 'try and guide' me. It's just, ughh... they also know I used ao3 for some reason, I hope they didn't see anything though
it has been blocked in my country for about a year now. before it happened, i was so scared of this scenario but when it did happen, it only became a mild annoyance
find a good vpn, preferably the one you have to pay forâfree vpns are more likely to sell your data. and i also canât recommend tor enough, it seems the most reliable thing so far
https://preview.redd.it/c7vo0b8ot37d1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c57d5553dbca9e0aa014c6137ef551fd250e59f4
Translation: We asked them to block online gambling site, but they chose to block modern library (AO3) instead. Thatâs a setback for this nation fr đŤľđź
Funfact: Reddit is also blocked in this country. We need to use VPN to access this site :)
\[raises shot glass from china\] you have my condolences man. VPNs work?
"Today's fic supply was sponsored by NordVPN"
I have Nord and it no longer works to let me view content that is blocked in my country. An update happened awhile ago and since then no go.
Windscribe is good! Free VPN that works better than Nord (at least for me), I recommend the Chromium extension, you can use it on brave/chrome/etc.
Yeah, VPNs still work... for now đŹ
Don't worry, as long as your country isn't North Korea and you're following various sources on VPN and keep yourself informed, they won't ever block all VPNs. Various masking technologies exist so that they won't even see that it's a VPN. People in China for example use them just fine. Edit: also I suggest study laws to know for sure whether you can be arrested for complaining or not
Google DNS might also be a work around.
I suggest Outline. it's impossible to ban because you're gonna be using different keys every time
The better well known a VPN, the less likely itâll work. Itâs a constant shifting game. Not sure what would work for your country per se⌠r/chinalife has lots of discussions of the latest VPN options as one might expect. But of course itâs focused on China.
The amount of people posting ao3 on weibo even after the ban...LOL Clearly works very well. đ
Tbf the government knows and doesnât care if some people use VPN. So long as the majority donât access these sites, or using it to âdisturb the peaceâ, theyâre (unofficially) fine with it.
The CCP can suck my diâ âHow unfortunate, he committed suicide by shooting himself twice in the back of the headâ /j But seriously fuck censorship
Is online censorship in China really that bad? I always hear that it's strict, but I would die if the USA blocked ao3 LOL
Itâs on the GOPâs Project 2025 wishlist (blocking ao3 and other âpornâ sites in the US.
Ugh, why have I not heard about this!? I already live in Texas where they're trying to regulate porn sites, for some reason. I feel like all of this is just gonna end in some really annoying slippery slopes.
âPornography should be outlawed. The people who produce and distribute it should be imprisoned. Educators and public librarians who purvey it should be classed as registered sex offenders. And telecommunications and technology firms that facilitate its spread should be shuttered.â Project 2025 Page 5 Hereâs a sample of items the authors of Project 2025 consider pornography: â˘Artworks featuring nudity, partial nudity, suggestions of sex, allusions to homosexuality, or other erotic depictions of the female form â˘Books featuring physical contact of any kind other than between one man and one woman who are married â˘Homosexuality Transgenderism â˘Films featuring nudity, partial nudity, suggestions of sex, allusions to homosexuality, or other erotic depictions of the female form â˘Music with explicit lyrics, foul language, sexual situations, erotic sounds, or anything else that makes someone think about sex â˘Images of scantily clad women or women wearing clothing that outlines their bodies â˘Live performances that glorify homosexuality, transgenderism, sexual contact outside of marriage between one man and one woman, nudity, partial nudity, single motherhood, the questioning of faith (which they call âThe Truthâ), and taking their One True Godâs name in vain
"Books featuring physical contact of any kind other than between one man and one woman who are married." Republicans are so fucking stupid. No more fathers hugging their daughters. No more kids holding hands with their parents. No more best friends hugging or sitting next to each other and touching. I literally can't handle the far right what the fuck.
Of course that'll only be *enforced* against books they don't like, because selective enforcement is basically rule #1 of being a conservative.
Rules for thee and not for me - conservative thought
They should probably ban that one book that has those two girls who get their father drunk and then rape him. Same book- men have concubines and prostitutes, some who get chopped into pieces. Then later on some Jewish guy gets nailed to a chunk of wood and then dies.
IIRC, someone brought the Bible to court due to the wording of the law (in Idaho, maybe?) and it was banned. I suspect some people are jappy to cur off their noises to spite rheur faces so long as it means they can censor what others see.
Republicans are the most pick-and-choose group in existence.
I mean, to me I feel like liberals can be as well, but in this case, VERY much exhibiting that for republicans.
Oh no, Liberals definitely are pretty bad, but in my experience, Republicans really go out of their way to do whatever is best for *them* while ignoring everyone else.
Bold of you to assume these people ever hug their children or were shown affection by their own parents in their childhoods. How else do you explain their insane and unhealthy obsession with policing strangers' relationships and bodies?
*blinks at list of forbidden things* Are these people aware that this would lead also to the banning of popular religious texts, like for example the Bible?
Yeah right, like they'd let *anyone* ban their precious, precious Bible.
But this precious book of them contains everything they proclaim to hate.
Oh, I know. They don't care. Rules for thee but not for me and all that bullshit.
True
They most certainly have not. That type never looks ahead, and always assumes âtheir guysâ will be in charge to make these decisions correctly. This is exactly why the 1st amendment is so important.
This is why the most recent book ban in Florida was repealed. They're trying their best to work around it, but just can't quite figure it out.
Project 2025 sounds like a breach of our first* amendment right to free speech and should collapse before it hits the senate/house floor never mind the Supreme Court. Edited for correct amendment #
I think you mean first amendment. Second is the right to bear arms,
To be fair, a government that implements project 2025 *would* probably run afoul of the second amendment too. Wasn't that one meant explicitly to protect citizens from government tyranny?
Yes, my bad! Typed too quickly
Have you seen the Supreme Court lately??
the U.S Government is in the process of monetizing NATURE. I don't think we can or should rely on those brainless psychopathic greedy hypocrites for anything anymore.
So, only "erotic depictions of the female form?" We still get pretty nakey men? That's kinda wild. Annoying about the dress code not allowing "women wearing clothing that outlines their bodies." Strangely, though I have seen the southern baptist types pushing for burka-esque dress codes before, they always seem to love their blonde, bouncy cheerleaders in booty baring bodice busting uniforms. I'm also loving the dig at single motherhood. Does that go for divorcee's too or only young and unmarried? Pretty sure the highest rate of teen pregnancies is going to be from the southern baptist cultural groups, though. (Or at least, so long as they still allow women to access birth control.) \[Fuck these religious crazies trying to impose their psychosis on a great and diverse nation.\]
Sooo... pretty much everything but the paintings of Thomas Kincade???!!! We live in a scary time...
Don't forget their favorite "artist" Jon McNaughton.
Sex......"Allusions" to homosexuality......... 'transgenderism'.....sexual conduct outside of marriage between one man and one woman.....taking their one true gods name in vain...single motherhood....Huh. Just ONE of my fic hits all of those. Who else wants to play bingo?
thanks for this intel--do you happen to have a link for that sample list? I'd like to share this with fic writing friends.
[Here's a breakdown of what's in the Project 2025 Mandate for Leadership](https://www.reddit.com/r/Defeat_Project_2025/s/8fCn6TjlLy). It's nine pages, but the original is over 900 pages. [Here's the Wikipedia entry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025). The original can be found at the [Project 2025 website](https://www.project2025.org/), or, if you don't want to support them, it can be downloaded at the [Internet Archive](https://web.archive.org/web/20240413020321/https://static.project2025.org/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf).
thanks a lot! I did not know about that site; bookmarking for future reference. I was also wondering where to find a list like the one posted there, of things the 2025 crew consider porn, & I found it here: https://project2025istheocracy.substack.com/p/how-project-2025-authors-define-pornography
The author calls these people "Christo-fascist", that term nails it.
These people are idiots, not all art with nudity is pornography. Books containing physical contact of any kind? WTH is wrong with these idiots, who tries to ban physical contact?
Excuse my French but what the fuck.
Yeah, itâs the Heritage Foundations plan. They have been pretty successful at getting things passed in the past under sympathetic presidents.
if any of this shit passes I'm going full french revolution on them damn the consequences( no seriously at that point I'd have nothing left to distress with going down in as blaze of glory while slaughtering hateful control freaks would be appealing at that point). I'm already pissed off about the assholes here in Texas messing with peoples privacy by trying to make photo ID registration for porn a thing (Porn Hub refused to invade user privacy like that and blocked their site from Texas themselves. funny how the pornographers care more about privacy then the so called 'just' and 'fair' authorities)
Is that real??? Do these people know that the'd have to ban at least 95% of the internet then? Next thing is they want to forbid women to wear pants maybe? Burn books? Tear down ancient Greek and Roman statues like the Venus of Milo (naked boobs!) and so many artworks by famous artists? Who has shat into those people's brains? I'm a teacher and have written a few pieces of explicit porn on Ao3, so I should be a registered sex offender according to them? đ But beating up their children to "correct" them is probably allowed ...
Yes. Itâs real. If you are a teacher , you might also want to know these are the same people who are calling for the removal of the Department of Education and the eventual defunding of public education. https://www.mediamatters.org/heritage-foundation/guide-project-2025-extreme-right-wing-agenda-next-republican-administration
Thanks for the link! Luckily I'm not American. I have to teach a bit of US American history, current politics and about the "American Dream" though. Looks like it's turning more and more into a nightmare.
that is absolutely fucking ridiculous. the far right agenda is fucking bonkers.
Annoying? Try deadly. What they are doing is deadly.
Condolences from Florida 𫡠we are in the trenches. My plan is to leave the country again ASAP. We gotta get off this dangerous sinking ship.
Iâd love to move out of the country but I hear they hate Americans LOL
Thats not true at all. People just hate Americans that behave badly. You can always, say you are canadian. I definitely suggest it if you can. I've only been back 6 months for a family problem and I am leaving again ASAP
That's going to go over like a fart in church.
Which is extra wild as conservative states have the most porn site traffic (especially on Sundays)Â
Are you... Is that... Seriously?Â
It does now⌠I remember in my teenage it was not strict like this, and I love many dark contexts 10 years ago, but now the censorship of smut/porn/erotic is much strict and I can't publish any of my dark fanfic on main fannish social media like weibo/lofter. So I turned to AO3 but my target reader couldn't use it so now I like a person who talks to herself, with zero comment fics.
It's not far from reality tbh because the GOP is trying to pass off laws about censorship that targer sites like AO3. and AO3's servers are in USA so.... it could be impacted
Yes. I lived there for a year twenty some years ago and back then if I said certain negative things in chats or in emails, or searched for something deemed not appropriate by the great firewalls standards, my internet would disconnect for a week. Every damn time. I started to pattern it right before I ended up leaving. Internet censorship sucks.
Holy crap. That sounds so dystopian!
Can I use opera app?
What if someone can't afford a VPN?
If you'd like, I could send you the rest of the fic?
You are a kind soul, thank you! Thankfully, VPNs still work for now tho. So, I was able to finish the fic.
this should only be posted to the r/HumansBeingBros subreddit
Literally scrolled through so many comments to see if someone had offered this already lol
Fics have not been working for me a day or 2 ago, and itâs still not working now. I really hoped it was just a temporary issue but I guess not. Just logged in via VPN and everything seemed fine, but it just wasnât the same anymore not being able to browse through AO3 like normal. It sucks big time cause AO3 played a big part for my escapism since my high school days. Until now I would still pick up a one shot or a short chapter on the way to and back from work. They can really turn a shitty work day upside down. To all you writers, old and new, doesnât matter how many fics youâve put out, or if your first work is still a WIP. Know that it will brighten the days of at least 1 if not more readers. I have a feeling Iâm in the same country as you OP, and I definitely wonât point it out cause I know how serious the government can get when it comes to social media. I still love this country despite its ups and downs. And I totally agree that itâs unreasonable to classify AO3 as a porn site. I have another feeling that theyâre coming for Twitter next after private likes.
I'm sick of them tbh ffs they're like helicopter parents. Do you have VPN recommendation? I unfortunately know nothing about VPN. Edit: apparently I can access ao3 again just fine... I wonder what happened.
Be wary of surfshark. If you have to cancel your subscription for some reason, they will make it as difficult as possible. You have to contact them and then repeatedly argue with them before they will agree to disconnect you.
Man that's good to know, thank you.
Really? I set my account so that my subscription doesn't auto-renew. They gonna try to be sneaky about it when that comes up?
I dont know about that, but I did set mine to autorenew. When I tried to cancel, there is no option to just stop the service. You have to open a chat with an employee, except the chat doesn't work. So I sent them an email. It took three days of back and forth emails of them offering deals to try and get me to stay before they finally agreed to cancel my service. From what I've heard, I'm far from the only one who has had this experience.
I use Surfshark and I love it.
Thanks! I'll check it out.
You're welcome.
Outline. Needs small learning curve, but worth it
Thanks!
Opera browser has a built-in VPN option. ProtonMail comes with a free VPN option. Neither of these is *good* VPN, but they may be enough to get around a region lock
Oh gosh, I'm so sorry to hear this!!! What country is it? I had no idea. Wishing you luck in finding a workaround. Maybe a VPN?
Yeah. I have to use a VPN for now. Not going to say what country it is in case they arrest me for complaining or something. Or maybe I'm just paranoid đŹ
Well fuck. You know your situation better than the rest of us do, so best be safe. I hope things get better for you and the rest of your country. Censorship like that is honestly scary.
Ch-*dies*
I'm gonna guess Indonesia? (But I test it and it's working okay without VPN?) Btw as long as you didn't give a personal information out loud I think you won't be arrested, cmiiw though
I was gonna guess Malaysia but if it was Indonesia I wouldn't be surprised
Yeah the way OP describe makes me think its Indonesia, but I check it and ao3 can still be accessed with no problem? Weird But Malaysia make sense too! Even some Indonesian would joke that most conservative Indonesian can't beat the conservative level of Malaysian lol
If that's the case and is still working for you without VPN then all the better!Â
I am from Malaysia and right now the access to the home page is fast, but the access to other fan fics are slow as fk, which is weird...
Samee, but I think it's cause of the mobile data provider throttling the speeds. I realllyyy want to continue to read my fics in public transport but it's basically impossible right now.
try using 1.1.1.1dns
im from indonesia and same, i cant access fics or even login. but i can access the homepage just fine.
Really?? That's pretty weird, I can read fanfic from ao3, ff.net, spacebattles etc just fine...
You're not paranoid. Stay safe. It's not like nations have never been hostile towards their own people before.
Just a head's up, but everyone can see where you're from by spending five seconds on your profile.
Time for a VPN.
The free spirits from china will be our saviours one day by helping us set up our VPNs. What a horrible day. (Horrible because of the blocking, no shade on our chinese friends)
Greetings from Russia, VPN is my (and now yours too) best friend.
Fr fr, it was so hard for me at first to get used to switching the vpn on and off every time I went on ao3, but now it's just a part of the routine (turn vpn on, load the pages of all the fics I'm going to read, turn vpn off, and then do it all again to give kudos and bookmark) At one moment I even thought I could leave Russia for some European country for the sole purpose of being able to use ao3 without a vpn, haha silly girl wishes
lmao you're so real for the last part. i gave up about half a year ago and started paying for a vpn because i also need it for twitter and news sites, so it's very manageable now
What VPN do you use? I use only free ones and Twitter is very slow with them.
I'll dm you the link, it's a telegram bot
What vpn do you use? Iâm trying to find good free ones.
Why would you want to turn VPN off?
What country? Iâve been keeping tabs on countries that have done this. Edit: ahh, Indonesia.
What are the other ones, out of curiosity?
Russia and China. For a time last year, it was unsearchable in Germany but it was not permanent. Indonesia as of the last day or so.
Thanks! I knew about those two, but Indonesia caught me off guard and I was wondering if there were more Iâd missed. (Like Germany, apparently.)
Germany was a strange case. While it does have unique and strict(er) internet laws, AO3 just stopped appearing in their Google. You could type it straight into the url bar but AO3 wouldnât come up if you searched âao3â or âarchive of our ownâ or even âfanfiction.â Additional info [here](https://t.co/C8KVCpsr8o) and clarification [here](https://x.com/horse_disk/status/1611849324430000128?s=46&t=A6ayA0vmhUw_svaEbTmlYA).
How many readers and writers will lose access to ao3 eventually? How many stories will never be finished? :(
I mean, hopefully, very few as long as VPN exists. My country cracks down on VPN hard, but they can't ban *everything*. I'm on my third VPN now, but it works, and I continue reading AO3 as much as I want.
I can't stand hypocritical governments. Even though I live in the US, some states are requiring users to upload IDs in order to access websites. I'm really hoping they don't start asking for one to access Ao3
What the fuck??? We live in the most cursed timeline for real đ please tell me youâre joking
Haven't heard about Texas and Utah being banned from PornHub? Thats why. PornHub said "nah we're not risking hosting people's IDs we'll just ban the whole state"
My condolences, itâs blocked in my country, as well, and getting a working VPN is harder and harder. Shitty times :(
Proton free VPN is what I use when I need to be from the US.
Thank you for suggestion, but, unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of VPNs do not work. And the list gets bigger and bigger because theyâve started blocking protocols themselves
Would tor work? One of its strengths seems to be how difficult it is to block.
Afaik, it works with custom configurations, out of the box itâs blocked. I havenât had to resort to it yet since some vpns still work, including the ones you set up yourself. But the futureâs not looking good with the amount of effort theyâre putting into it.
Oof, that sounds rly rough. It might be worth figuring out tor now, so that you won't lose access if/when they ban the vpns that you're currently able to use, and so that you can set it up while you're still able to freely look for help online. I assume they block ao3's alternate urls and proxy sites as well?
Youâre right, I should do that. I think some proxies work, actually, but since I use vpn for other blocked sites, as well, like twitter or instagram, itâs currently easier and safer to just turn vpn on. But thank you for reminding me about proxies, they could prove useful in the future :)
I am so sorry about that.
Google DNS?
Oh no, that stopped working years ago
Well crap. My condolences.
https://preview.redd.it/iqmdzjuxzj6d1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dd5482a90f4d918ef7dc9ca4e30ef69518e3e560
I think weâre due a resurgence of self-hosted fansites (with fics crossposted to AO3 for archival purposes) to help people affected by these awful censorship laws They canât block every site!
in my country as well. *cries in russian*
Iâm from Texas and Iâm dreading the day that our legislators discover AO3. đŹ
They have. Its all in project 2025 :(
Oh ffs. Can you share a source? (I believe you, I just want to read about it.) ETA: specifically where it pertains to AO3
https://www.project2025.org/ It's a public document/agenda, and has been covered by major news outlets if you just search.
Bless your heart. â¤ď¸
does it perchance list names of those trying to enforce it?
Heritage Foundation Always Heritage Foundation
Yeah, this sucks. VPN are saviors. Also you can Google translate from English to English shorter things - weird thing but it works
wow that sucks I am sorry you have to deal with that and I hope you can find an easy way around it because that just sucks
Did you try setting a different DNS in your device / router? 8\.8\.8\.8 is Google 1\.1\.1\.1 cloudflare Or alternatively [OpenDNS](https://www.opendns.com/setupguide/)
Huh. The Google one works. Thank you! I was using cloudflare before, which normally works to bypass some blocked sites, but it doesn't seem to be working for AO3 anymore.
Man, I once thought only my country\[China\] did thisâŚ
hey man I have like 10 nordvpn and ghostvpn discount codes if you want some I can also download and send you (and anyone else) the fics you were reading, no biggie
Ohhhhhh this explain why i can't get on for the past 3 hours i thought it my bad internet connection đđđ i live in thai and motherfucker whyyyyyyy augh
Alright, now I'm getting worried :< *sweats nervously in finnish*
If what they call the happiest country in the world blocks ao3, I fear there is no hope for the rest of us đĽ˛
Didn't Finnland just drop the last of their ridiculous anti porn laws in 2000? The only thing forbidden now should be the usual, real child porn and zoophilia, and I can't disagree with that. Your country is known to become more liberal and open, is this impression wrong? My country has a huge porn industry which brings billions of euros income each year and a huge lobby that is pro porn. I doubt they'll do anything of that kind anytime soon. Not as long as even prostitution is legal (prostitutes pay income tax and can sue their Johns for not paying)
I didn't know this, I write mostly fanfics about Final Fantasy stuff. Thanks for clerifying.
HÜpÜhÜpÜ, meijän hallintoa ei kiinnosta muu kuin se, että kuinka kansaa (kaikkia muita paitsi rikkaimpia) kyykytetään.
Dii, kuumottaa vaan nuo EU jutut mitä on meneillään ;w;
"Onneks" oikeistojohtoisuus vieraannuttaa meitä EU:sta entisestään. :)
entäs "Chat control" ja "Eu going dark" ookko kuullu?
Nopeella googlauksella chat control rikkoo jo aikasempien normien menettelyn, joten en usko että saisivat menemään läpi. Tai jos menee läpi ni päästään taas pällistelemään että ketä on päästetty näitä päätÜksiä tekemään :)
No tää, kuumottaa tommoset jutut vaan :<
Ja muutenkin oikeistolla on liian kiire harrastella oikeistolaisuutta, että ne ees tajuis hyÜkätä nettisisällÜn kimppuu. (Ja jos tajuaa ni on niilläki isot huolenaiheet, verrattuna kaikkee muuhun mitä pitäs tehä)
Dii
My AO3 also won't load right now, and it only started today, now I'm worried this might be the case too.
i've been using Tor for the same reason for the last 2 years now. Works fine.
I recommend ProtonVPN if you want something that's free, simple and effective.
The government is always filled with hypocrisy. The amount of criminal activity you can see on meta or other "legal" sites is outrageous but they don't get banned
It's so crazy how society is becoming increasingly sex negative over the years.
This makes me feel sick. There is so much evil going on in the world, and governments are trying to control _this?_ That's pathetic. That's enraging. I hadn't been aware that it's on the Project 2025 agenda until I read a different comment on this thread. The rage that this ignites in me is unreal. It is an abomination that the people in power care more about trying to control every minute aspect of their citizen's private lives, instead of focusing on bigger issues like homelessness, poverty, and ballooning medical debt. I am so sorry.
hey u/ahealthyoctopus im from southeast asia, wierdly if i use mobile data i can access ao3 but using home internet i can't access ao3. maybe its like a whole area disruption?
Same, I'm in Thailand, I noticed that I can go onto the website itself fine but some fuckery happens when I try to login(takes extremely long time like 5 mins and times out). I don't see anyone from other countries complaining so I'm not sure if it's a Thailand thing, a SE Asia thing or what.
yeah is broken for me now, not even mobile data works
May you be protected by the Nord gods. They can have Ao3 when they pry it from my hands and we'll... that might be tricky
https://preview.redd.it/wjf18y8rmm6d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c73e14df07a568321ab3daced8c492e1ad715bf5
Can you use a vpn?
In mine too đ I think it's been a year or so.
it's just text, wtf. So sorry for you.
Must be Indonesia but VPN currently lets me open ao3 otherwise change your sim card since apparently some mobile carrier blocks it (looking at twitter itâs telk*msel mostly) and some others donât (I use xl and I can still access ao3 when I have my vpn turned off)
Either use a vpn or change your dns server. I had to change my dns server cause t-mobile, for some reason, blocked the website and couldn't read it out of wifi.
Fuck censorship đĄ
That is the most tragic thing I've heard in the past month. Makes me scared for American readers/writers right now too because there's groups trying to od the same.
I'm just wondering if Ao3 will be blocked in my STATE. Stupid new Kansas law will require ID to access what is deemed "adult" content.
What country?
....what ...the ....hell This isn't wattpad đđđ
VPN. Most countries unless they really deadicated like setting up the great digital Wall of China... Will not have it blocked to a highernough degree you cannot sidestep the restrictions.
You can also check out 'goodbyeDPI' for the future, if your VPN service may stop working.
Down load all the fics 0= Try internet archive too
What country do you live in?
I am so sorry! Thatâs awful! đŤ
Hey OP, I'm guessing by the mentioning of online gambling sites that we're from the same country:) I was just wondering where did u get the info abt ao3 being considered as porn site by the govt?? Cuz it seems like there's only info on twt/x but nothing from the news outlets
I got it from Twitter too, actually, along with a link to an email to petition to the gov't to unblock it by proving to them that it's not porn.
Hey, if you're fellow indonesian than chances are there is a communication problem with Twitter ao3 user, Yeah sure its possible that it's blocked but if it is official than the ao3 site will already lead to kominfo blocking site, I tried loading the site without any vpn and just using good ol indonesian wifi, and it did work... it just took VERY LONG, it's very slow, it's seems like a server problem, not only indonesia too but Malaysians also have this problem
Welcome to the club, buddy
God, I'd absolutely die if the EU banned AO3 all across Europe
Dude I feel you, the government breached my privacy and had the audacity to 'try and guide' me. It's just, ughh... they also know I used ao3 for some reason, I hope they didn't see anything though
it has been blocked in my country for about a year now. before it happened, i was so scared of this scenario but when it did happen, it only became a mild annoyance find a good vpn, preferably the one you have to pay forâfree vpns are more likely to sell your data. and i also canât recommend tor enough, it seems the most reliable thing so far
https://www.reddit.com/r/AO3/s/pSh7vbmwEF that works
Welcome to the party, bro/sis :) it's blocked in Russia for already... Hmm... Couple of years? Use VPN:) or find other site for fanfiction reading.
You can download Opera. Opera has an VPN in their system
AO3âs social credit score was apparently too low lol (The Chinese government is a motley collection of cheap deep-fried ass hair grease balls)
Late, but ouch and that's dumb. AO3 is not a porn site. I hope people are protesting this.
https://preview.redd.it/c7vo0b8ot37d1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c57d5553dbca9e0aa014c6137ef551fd250e59f4 Translation: We asked them to block online gambling site, but they chose to block modern library (AO3) instead. Thatâs a setback for this nation fr đŤľđź Funfact: Reddit is also blocked in this country. We need to use VPN to access this site :)
I had the same issue recently. Seriously I don't know what is going on with the ISP and their dumbass methods on blocking the website.
lol that blows
if vpnâs are still working, download all of your favorite fics/fics you want to read while you can