Donald Trump at a rally in Virginia in October (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

During the presidential election, many Americans said that they’d move to Canada if Donald Trump won. But the Internet Archive, the nonprofit organization that backs up virtually the entire public internet, is actually going through with it.




“On November 9th in America, we woke up to a new administration promising radical change. It was a firm reminder that institutions like ours, built for the long-term, need to design for change,” the Internet Archive said in a blog post today.

“For us, it means keeping our cultural materials safe, private and perpetually accessible. It means preparing for a Web that may face greater restrictions,” the blog post continued, referring to promises made during Donald Trump’s election campaign that he would restrict speech in myriad ways.


The blog post, first spotted by Motherboard, goes on to explain that it will take millions of dollars to build backups in Canada, but the organization is soliciting tax deductible donations.

Donald Trump, whose infamy owes much to his online presence, has repeatedly referred to both weak American libel laws and an open internet as things he’d like to change while in office.

“We’re losing a lot of people because of the internet,” Trump said in a speech last year, referring to ISIS recruitment. “We have to see Bill Gates and a lot of different people that really understand what’s happening. We have to talk to them about, maybe in certain areas, closing that internet up in some way.”

“Somebody will say, ‘Oh freedom of speech, freedom of speech,’” Trump continued during his tirade. “These are foolish people.”


[Internet Archive via Motherboard]