AO3, the Largest Fanfiction Site, Has Been Down for 9 Days

The world's largest fanfiction site has been inaccessible for nine days following a cyberattack. The target was Archive of Our Own (AO3). Launched in 2008, AO3 is a major fanfiction platform with more than 11 million registered users.

AO3 hosts roughly 18 million works. The site was recognized for its value as a creative-sharing platform, winning the Hugo Award—a prestigious international science fiction literature prize—in 2019.

OTW advised users to change their passwords on any other sites that use the same password as AO3. It noted that the site does not collect users' real names and that donor information is stored in a separate system.