Why this is important
Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2025 4:26 am
Under the hood
Web pages are usually a composition of multiple elements such as images, scripts and CSS. The Wayback Machine tries to archive and playback web pages in the best possible manner, including all their original elements. Each web page element has its own URL and Timestamp, indicating the exact date and time it was archived. Page elements may have similar Timestamps but they could also vary significantly for various reasons which depend on the web crawling process. By using the new Timestamps feature, users can easily learn the archive date and time for each element of a page.
The Wayback Machine is increasingly used in whatsapp lead critical procedures such as legal evidence or political debate material. It is important that what is presented is clear and transparent, even in the light of a web that was not designed to be archived. One of the ways a web archive could be confusing is via anachronisms, displaying content from different dates and times than the user expects. For example, when a archived page is played back, it could include some images from the current web, making it look like the image came from the past when it did not. We implemented Timestamps to provide users with more context about, and in turn hopefully greater confidence in, what they are seeing.
A weekly round up on what’s happening and what we’re seeing at the TV News Archive by Katie Dahl and Nancy Watzman. Additional research by Robin Chin.
In this week’s TV News Archive roundup, we explain how presidential tweets are forever, show how different TV cable news networks summarized NFL protests via Third Eye chyron data, and present FiveThirtyEight’s analysis of hurricane coverage (hint: Puerto Rico got less attention.)
Wayback Machine preserved deleted prez tweets; PolitiFact fact-checks legality of prez tweet deletions (murky)
The Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine has preserved President Donald Trump’s deleted tweets praising failed GOP Alabama U.S. Senate candidate Luther Strange following his defeat by Roy Moore on September 26. So does the Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalism site ProPublica, through its Politwoops project.
Web pages are usually a composition of multiple elements such as images, scripts and CSS. The Wayback Machine tries to archive and playback web pages in the best possible manner, including all their original elements. Each web page element has its own URL and Timestamp, indicating the exact date and time it was archived. Page elements may have similar Timestamps but they could also vary significantly for various reasons which depend on the web crawling process. By using the new Timestamps feature, users can easily learn the archive date and time for each element of a page.
The Wayback Machine is increasingly used in whatsapp lead critical procedures such as legal evidence or political debate material. It is important that what is presented is clear and transparent, even in the light of a web that was not designed to be archived. One of the ways a web archive could be confusing is via anachronisms, displaying content from different dates and times than the user expects. For example, when a archived page is played back, it could include some images from the current web, making it look like the image came from the past when it did not. We implemented Timestamps to provide users with more context about, and in turn hopefully greater confidence in, what they are seeing.
A weekly round up on what’s happening and what we’re seeing at the TV News Archive by Katie Dahl and Nancy Watzman. Additional research by Robin Chin.
In this week’s TV News Archive roundup, we explain how presidential tweets are forever, show how different TV cable news networks summarized NFL protests via Third Eye chyron data, and present FiveThirtyEight’s analysis of hurricane coverage (hint: Puerto Rico got less attention.)
Wayback Machine preserved deleted prez tweets; PolitiFact fact-checks legality of prez tweet deletions (murky)
The Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine has preserved President Donald Trump’s deleted tweets praising failed GOP Alabama U.S. Senate candidate Luther Strange following his defeat by Roy Moore on September 26. So does the Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalism site ProPublica, through its Politwoops project.