This is real and well-documented. Major outlets like USA Today, the New York Times, and Reddit are actively blocking the Wayback Machine from archiving their content—ostensibly over AI training concerns, though the article notes some outlets (like USA Today) say they're blocking all scraping bots generally. Meanwhile, over 100 journalists including Rachel Maddow have signed a letter supporting the Archive, arguing it's essential for fact-checking, historical research, and accountability. The story captures a genuine tension: publishers worried about AI using archived content to compete with them, versus journalists who rely on those archives as a public record.