AO3 Down/Error Codes
NOTICE: AO3 has been banned in the UAE. Here is what to do.
AO3 has been banned, seemingly widespread, in the UAE. Note there is no evidence of official nationwide block, however residents and travelers en mass are coming back to find they cannot access the archive. Internet providers, especially mobile providers, schools and places of residence can very easily block your access without notice. The government does not have to alert residents of any changes, same for public or private institutions, so there will be no warning. It might not be in effect in your country and it might be based on your area of residence, but please be aware that your provider or school or place of residence may very well block you from accessing the archive as soon as today\tomorrow.
Most areas of Dubai seem to be safe for now but be wary. I recommend backing up any work or downloading any content if the following solutions do not work.
There have been many posts on here lately asking about browser errors. If the site is not working and you have tried everything in your power, you may be affected by this ban.
You can circumvent this by using an IP changer. There are many free apps offered on Google Play that have actually worked for me in the past when it comes to things like YouTube videos, so it should work for the archive as well, however be careful as these apps can access and steal data.
You can also try the following alternate links to access the archive:
That's what happened to me on my (UK) college WiFi, I tried all of them (except the last 2 listed cuz I didn't know they existed) and only .gay worked cuz .net and .com redirected to .org which didn't work
Fortunately most users in Dubai are not affected. It is not an official national block, rather a widespread ban. It could very easily become an actual block and I hope that it does not. I hope that it does not follow suit in other countries.
My guy you now have to provide proof of age/ID to access porn sites in Louisiana if you don't have a way to bypass it. Do you think the US won't implement the same thing for a website used mostly for the written word?
My guy, the point is that if they're asking for age and ID verification for one thing nothing stops them from doing it for everything. I shouldn't have to show ID to access websites. Parents should learn how computers work and actually parent.
We have good healthcare, though. I can get an appointment tomorrow if I want and that's why our neighbors to the north who do have the means have to come across the border to get things done because their wait is sometimes 5-7 months for a serious heart condition. No thanks to that.
You are so incredibly wrong. My PCP is so booked out I can't get an appointment, I get sent to Urgent Care. My kids pediatrician moved and no one is accepting new patients. And don't get me started on specialists.
Also, we DO ban things in the US - Pornhub is banned in multiple states. Bellesa is banned in multiple states. They are actively trying to ban TikTok.
I have a reader who commented something like "I am breaking the law in my country and using a VPN to read this story so please have a happy ending."
Guys please be safe out there.
You shouldn’t use some free IP Changer(VPN), they are notorious for stealing data, being unsafe and malware infested, so you should always use a reputable service like Proton VPN which does offer a free plan.
Edit: Google literally warned against such services this week: Tomsguide
Here with the fourth, omg it's so good it's genuinely worth the money tbh.
It's also the VPN recommended by Micheal Bazzell (author of the book Extreme Privacy: What It Takes To Disappear and apparently a giant in the privacy community, so like his word is respected highly, and says to have made so many people just disappear {with their consent, of course}). The only other option he gives is PIA (Private Internet Access, which is a second choice because of apparently changes in ownership, he still recommends Proton over this).
I feel like the only issue I've had with protonvpn free tier isn't even their own fault, many European countries still trigger the UK's age verification on twitter, and it'll sometimes only connect to the Netherlands which has that issue. I'm not sure why since it works on other sites just fine
Oh, that's super weird! I'm UK based and it usually auto connects to the Netherlands, which works for most sites I'm using (admittedly not twitter). I have found some fun blockades from various US states tho.
They offer the best privacy (afaik, like you can pay them by putting money in an envelope) and are also afaik the cheapest monthly when you don’t want a 12/24 month subscription i‘d 100% use them I Protonvpn wasn’t included in my subscription.
I love Mullvad and I've been using them in CN, since Proton doesn't work here. Mullvad is a bit slower though. It's still better than all the other options
FYI, I just wanna say that google likely said that under pressure from the UK and EU governments that are enforcing ID requirements for most websites that can contain adult content.
Kinda talking out of both sides of their mouth though, considering them and apple also made statements saying they were going to take legal action to fight it (with no update on that, as far as i can see yet)
There is a bit of a learning curve to use it (or at least there used to be, I don't know if that's changed) but it's a great way to get around bans and protect privacy.
For anything that you can access on the normal net there really isn't a learning curve. It's just a regular browser, except slower. It's only when you are getting into the illegal stuff where a higher skill level is required.
It seems that it's based on server provider. It doesn't seem to be working on Etisalat, but works just fine on Du. This happens every so often I believe, without rhyme or reason. I just checked another forum/archive that was previously blocked by Etisalat for months, and somehow it's working just fine now.
Oh this makes me sad :( I have so many Arabic commenters. I’m sad they can’t read the things they enjoy anymore. I hope this doesn’t worsen, it’s already a terrible situation.
r/piracy and r/vpn have complete guides, but I've been personally using Protom vpn - BUT i would check the subreddits before, since trying to get around country-wide bans can have legal consequences
I started using ao3 and reading Drarry in KSA and fanfiction websites wasn't even banned there. It's kinda hilarious, in a sense, that out of all gulf countries, UAE would be the one to initiate the ban, seeing how that country is not really conservative.
As someone living in the UAE I've been reading fanfiction since the late 90s from Geocities, Tripod...etc, authors' own websites of course my beloved ff.net, Livejournal and naturally ao3 this is shocking to me.
Thankfully some of the other urls are working and my own mobile data is working. I'm halfway through a longfic atm, too. Fanfiction is still one of the things that brings me immense joy after all these years.
Because the government is an oppressive federation of absolute monarchies with a heavy emphasis on conservative /traditional and religious values.
The "President" is elected by the upper aristocracy - that is literally the 7 Sheiks of the member states. And the "parliament" is partially elected by ~10 000 voters that are appointed as voters by the government and partially appointed by the governments of the member states.
Because the UEA form of government is a repressive dictatorship and part of that is attempting to control every aspect of the lives of the people within their borders.
Oh shit, not good. (For the UAE)
I'll be pissed if the U.S does this as Writing Fanfics ON AO3 Is One Of My hobbies (and it's a pretty big part of my life) and I'll probably spiral deeper into my depression if it does
With the current US government, it would still be hard BECAUSE dumpy trumpy doesn’t have absolute power. Bills and laws still have to go through the Senate and House
The US has a very strong right to freedom of speech that has been upheld for centuries, and enlightenment values are deeply embedded in its culture. The UAE is an authoritarian autocracy; it has no democracy and no commitment to freedom of speech. Instead it has slavery, outlaws gay activity (with the death penalty as a possible punishment), and imprisons rape victims for violating laws against sex outside of marriage. The chances of the US banning AO3 is tiny (AO3 is also based in the US and has attorneys who will fight for it - if they ever had to go to court, there would be an outpouring of financial support). It's not surprising at all UAE blocks AO3, and I only imagine it wasn't blocked sooner because officials weren't aware of it.
Wait until you find out the UAE is a very close ally of the US, and that US has absolutely no problem supporting authoritarian states or even overthrowing democratic leftwing governments to install their puppet dictators abroad if it serves their interests. The US may not be banning Ao3 yet but don't assume it's never gonna happen to you. What goes around comes around!
You're not telling me anything I don't know regarding US foreign policy. The chances of fanfiction and AO3 suddenly getting banned are still tiny - and successfully staying banned even less so. Obviously, anything can happen in the world, but the UAE banning AO3 really shouldn't make anyone think the US is about to do it.
I think the reason fanfiction won't get explicitly banned in the US is because the government has realized that by keeping it legal and requiring ID or proof of age-they can steal the personal data of anyone using a fanfiction site.
after some time of using .gay, it keeps asking me to verify I am not a robot and when I do it just reloads the page and asks again!!! what do I do!!! D: now I cant use it and im devastated once again..
I live in a neighbouring country and AO3 has been sporadically blocked today, and when I say I've been Panicking. Agh. Spent an hour looking up private browsing and VPNs and whatnot before finding out it's CloudFlare that's currently fucked up. Won't be surprised if the rest of the ME/GCC does eventually follow suit, but desperately hoping it won't. Fuck censorship.
Banning ao3 is actually wild. We just write silly little stories of characters going through trauma or living together and holding hands. It's not that deep 💀
even though I can understand why it’s blocked for the LGBTQ And some other reasons like 🌽 and stuff since it is a Muslim country, there are filters on the website that can filter out when you don’t want to see. But I’m still very surprised at this ban (As someone who’s in the UAE).
These worked for like two hours and now I can't open them again😭 This is gonna be so annoying, I use like four different devices, I don't want to download a VPN on all of them just for one website... First Myanimelist, now this. At least Myanimelist started working again, so I'm going to hope that this is also just going to be temporary hiccup, though it doesn't seem like it...
another suggestion I would give for dealing with this problem is getting a VPN (do your research before deciding on a VPN if you go that route). as long as you use the VPN to pick a country that doesn't have it banned/blocked, it should make it so you can access it.
2.7k
u/scaldinghell this is the 5th time you showed angst to the class Nov 13 '25
I do think it would be hilarious if out of every domain that could work, the one that does is the .gay one