“creator chose not to use archive warnings” tag on ao3 means a fic may or may not contain things that are triggering and taboo, but the author chooses not to tag them and they choose not to say if there’s any at all. it means proceed at your own risk.
if a fic contains heavily triggering/taboo topics that are not properly tagged, but the author uses “creator chose not to use archive warnings”, then that tag alone means they’ve already tagged everything ao3 requires from them, even if they don’t tell you what these taboo topics are. so the only way to find out is to actually read their work. it means you know the risk and still choose to read their works. you cannot be mad at the author, because they’ve basically told you to proceed at your own risk.
so no, this is not against ao3’s terms of service. this is what “creator chose not to use archive warnings” tag is for.
