reminder for the people who think they can report a fic to ao3 for being “dark and problematic” and that ao3 will listen to them and take the fic down
*the country in question is china. ao3 is banned there because they firmly refused to remove one problematic and taboo fanfic that upset chinese government.
ao3 was built with the main purpose to be completely against censorship. it was built because the founders, who were proship, got tired of pro censorship platforms like wattpad banning dark and taboo fics. ao3 founders built ao3 specifically to host and give a platform to dark and taboo fics that were reported and taken down on pro censorship platforms.
the fic you report to ao3 for being dark and taboo is the exact reason why ao3 was created in the first place. it’s the exact type of fic ao3 allows and protects.
mass reporting is not possible because on ao3, a fic can only be reported one time. if you try to report a fic that has already been reported, ao3 will tell you the fic has already been reported and is under their review, therefore your new report—and any new report from anybody—does not go through. the only time ao3 will remove a fic is if it violates their terms of service (by mentioning money, being a stolen work, not actually being fanwork, or deliberately mistagging things, although mistagging things won’t get a fic removed, ao3 will just ask the author to fix their tags) but they will not remove a fic simply for being dark and taboo, no matter how explicit or dark or taboo the fic is.
also, if you rapidly report several fics under specific tags / several fics from specific authors, your action can be count as you abusing ao3’s support system by ao3 themself — ao3 may consider your action to be a form of harassment, which is against their terms of service. and then ao3 may take action against your account.
ao3 has been fighting against censorship for nearly two decades now. they know what they’re doing. they know what they’re up against. they have their own team of lawyers to defend them, their users, and every fanwork that is posted on their platform.
ao3 abides by american laws. and everything ao3 allows is legal in america.
so no, they will not take down a fic for being dark and taboo when they don’t break any laws by allowing these dark and taboo fics on their platform, and they—as a non-profit organization that’s run by fans, for fans, on the donations of fans who are also against censorship—don’t have any sponsors or companies that they have to please by being pro censorship and banning taboo fics.
here’s the list of things you need to know about ao3 if you’re new to the platform.
romaincrisis
amandla
kianamaiart
gracieabrams
