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On October 29th, AO3 unexpectedly went down. It’s still offline, and may be that way for several more weeks as they investigate a security breach. The site’s downtime has created a lot of panic and stress, but it’s also winched open a rift between fan fiction writers and readers, all made worse by the state of modern publishing, AI, and the feeling that art and media are just grist for the scroll. I reported it all out for @CNN and found out a lot about the current state of fan fiction in the process. Huge thanks to @momovolution2 for being my guide here, and for all the authors who talked to me about what’s going on and how they feel about it. cnn.com/2026/11/07/entertain…