You may have heard of the saying, “The internet does not forget.” It may sound like a cliché, but the phrase captures the reality that once information is posted online, it can be difficult or even impossible to completely erase.
While some information may spread rapidly online, people often delete posts to avoid scrutiny, cover their tracks, or distance themselves from false or harmful content.
There is a part of the internet that allows users to proactively preserve online content by intentionally saving copies of social media posts, articles, and other information shared on the internet so that even when the original versions are deleted, there can still be a stored version of the original page saved.
For a fact-checker, the deletion of posts under investigation can create problems which can lead to credibility and even legal challenges if you do not have proof of the claim you investigated. Imagine spending hours verifying a viral claim or publishing a fact-check, only to find that the original post of the claim, article or webpage cited has been pulled down.
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Without proper archiving, your investigation could lose its most important source and or piece of evidence and would raise issues of credibility.
This is where internet archiving tools come to the rescue.
These tools capture and save snapshots of webpages at a particular point in time, ensuring the information remains accessible, even if the original is edited, moved, or taken down. Archiving tools help fact-checkers preserve live digital evidence, track changes, and maintain a reliable record of online content.
Some of the most commonly used archiving tools include:
- The Wayback Machine (by the Internet Archive: https://web.archive.org/ )
- Archive.today (also known as archive.ph )
- Ghost archive ( https://ghostarchive.org/ )
- Perma.cc (used frequently in academic and legal work)
In this report, we will demonstrate through a step-by-step guide, how to archive a webpage (link) using Wayback Machine, one of the most widely trusted and publicly accessible archiving platforms with over 946 billion web pages saved over time.
For this article, we will use a social media post that we verified in a recent report. You can find it here.
Step-by-Step Guide: Archiving a Link with Wayback Machine
Step 1: Visit the Wayback Machine Website
Go to https://web.archive.org using your preferred browser.
Step 2: Locate the ‘Save Page Now’ Tool
On the homepage, look for the box labeled “Save Page Now”. This is where you’ll enter the link you want to archive.
Step 3: Click the ‘Save Page’ Button
After pasting the link, click on the “Save Page” button next to the box. The tool will begin archiving the page.
Step 4: Wait for the process to complete
You’ll see a loading page indicating that the system is capturing the content. This might take a few seconds, depending on the size of the webpage.
Step 5: Copy the Archived URL
Once the process is complete, you’ll be redirected to a new page with a timestamped version of the archived page. Copy this archived link and save it for future reference or add it to your fact-check.
About The Wayback Machine
The Wayback Machine, part of the Internet Archive, is a digital archive of the World Wide Web. It allows users to view past versions of websites, effectively “traveling back in time” to see how a site looked at a specific date.
The Internet Archive, a non-profit organization, launched the Wayback Machine to the public in 2001.
Bonus Tips:
- Always archive before a webpage might be taken down.
- You can also use the Wayback Machine to look up past versions of a website.
- For social media posts, consider taking screenshots in addition to archiving.
Written by Samuel Nii Adjetey
