INSTITUT NATIONAL DE L’AUDIOVISUEL

The Web Legal Deposit (WebMedia)
In line with its role of archiving radio and television programs for scientific use, INA is responsible for the legal deposit of French web content related to broadcast, audio and video industries. Since 2009, it has continuously been harvesting 16,069 websites and 15,637 social media accounts or online platforms, expanding media related sources made available for research purposes.

Why archive the Web?
In 2006, a law on copyright extended the French legal deposit to the web. This legal framework defines the shared roles of INA and the National Library of France (BnF) in preserving the internet as cultural heritage. Driven by new publishing technologies and online content consumption, the rise and spread of digital media required that tools and technical processes be developed to preserve web content for future generations.

65,000 web sources preserved
Since 2009, the web archiving teams at INA have followed the evolutions and trends of web technologies, implementing strategic updates to keep up with the transformation of media practices. Prior collections dating back to 1996 have been provided by Internet Archive, a US nonprofit digital archive.

Today, more than 16,000 web sites (covering 158 billion URL versions since 1996) are being harvested and archived at INA. The harvesting process adapts to their update frequency, their size and depth. The fleeting dimension of the web indeed requires ongoing efforts to keep collections updated and coherent.

The scope of INA web archive has expanded to include text and video publications from 25,000 user accounts related to broadcast content on social and media sharing platforms like Twitter, YouTube, and Dailymotion. Additionally, posts linked to over 3,000 hashtags, continuous streams from 30 web radio stations, and 20,000 podcasts are being collected.

Which websites are preserved?
INA archives all French audio and video media web sites, including:

• Historical broadcasters web sites (public and private radio and TV channels), and on-demand services.
• Web TV and web radios.
• Sites dedicated to broadcast programs (e.g., fan sites) or to specific TV and radio shows.
• Websites from professional or institutional organizations linked to the broadcasting environment.

Are video and podcast platforms archived?
INA collects and preserves videos from 10,000 French accounts on platforms like YouTube and Dailymotion. It also archives all podcasts produced by the national radio broadcasters (Radio France) and a selection of 20,000 independent or media-related podcasts.

What about social networks?
INA archives tweets related to audiovisual content, news and current affairs and major media events by tracking posts from around 15,000 accounts and 3,200 hashtags. As of October 2024, INA has preserved 16,000 Twitter accounts (3.2 billion tweets since 2014).