Is it possible to request to remove page snapshots from a personal social media profile you own from the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine?

Question

My understanding is that if it is your domain, and you add a robots.txt, then you can exclude it from the web archive.

And this unofficial page suggests that if you forgot to add a robots.txt, but manage to retroactively prove that you owned the domain at a given date, then they might also remove it: https://www.joshualowcock.com/tips-tricks/how-to-delete-your-site-from-the-internet-archive-wayback-machine-archive-org/ and this is also suggested at https://help.archive.org/hc/en-us/articles/360004651732-Using-The-Wayback-Machine:

How can I exclude or remove my site's pages from the Wayback Machine?

You can send an email request for us to review to [email protected] with the URL (web address) in the text of your message.

But what if you have a personal profile on a social media website such as Twitter, Facebook, Stack Exchange, etc. which has a robots.txt that allows archiving?

Also interested in the special subcase where that content has an open license such as CC-By-SA.

Do they remove archives of your profile upon request?

Obviously supposing that the content is legal according to the laws of where Web Archive is hosted.

Answer 1

I have personally witnessed a case where such request was made with rationale that it would be a personal security risk to the owner of a social media profile, and the specific profile page was "excluded from the Wayback Machine" when I later tested it, and I am certain it had been archived earlier. I cannot provide more information however due to privacy concerns of that case, but know that in that case at least, there is precedent.

Answer 2

First, you can request it if your jurisdiction has a right-to-be-forgotten law (RTBF) and/or if your target company is based in a jurisdiction that has such a law. If extraterritoriality applies, such that a place where there is a RTBF law has power over your target company even if they are not in the same jurisdiction, that may also be a viable path to request such a right.

The right to be forgotten is the right to have a person's private information removed from Internet searches and other directories under certain circumstances. The concept has been discussed and practiced in several jurisdictions, including Argentina, the European Union, and the Philippines.

Second, depending on the user agreement you signed (and again in your jurisdiction), you may be able to make a copyright claim. For example, if your target company is under US jurisdiction, you may be able to make a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) request over information you inputted.