Media: Russian watchdog demands that popular fanfiction website Archive of Our Own delete pornographic stories featuring teenagers written in Russian

Roskomnadzor, Russia’s media watchdog, has discovered several pornographic stories written in Russian that involve teenagers on Archive of Our Own, a popular fanfiction repository, and sent a demand to the website to take them down, the watchdog told Vedomosti.

In total, Roskomnadzor wants 16 stories to be removed. “If this unacceptable content is not timely taken down, the watchdog will restrict access to the website,” the agency warned.

Nevertheless, the watchdog has not received any response from Archive of Our Own.

The specific materials that drew attention of the agency are not specified. However, the website does feature pornographic materials that feature teenaged characters, Vedomosti verified.

Archive of Our Own is one of the largest and most well known fanfiction repositories in the world. Most stories are written in English. As of December 2022, the website has more than 10 million stories published in more than 50,000 fandoms. In Russia, the service is not as popular as others.

Fanfiction is a collective term for stories that fans write based on their favourite books, films, comic books, cartoons, or even stars. These stories usually feature characters from the original source or real-life celebrities.