AO3 comment scam warning: Do not delete your fics (Fannish Fifty #26)

This helpful warning of a comment scam being perpetrated by bots in fic comments on AO3 was originally posted on tumblr by allthingswhumpyandangsty.

I'm copying/pasting it here verbatim; original post linked above.

" just a heads up to my fellow writers out there that AO3 is currently fighting off bots commenting on people’s works to tell them that AO3 will delete their fics “due to the works being deprecated”, and the deletion will affect their accounts unless the authors delete the fics themselves first. IT IS A SCAM. AO3 will NOT delete your works. please do NOT fall for these bots! ( rest of the post behind the cut )

AO3 IS NOT DELETING WORKS. DO NOT DELETE YOUR WORKS JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE CLAIMS THEY KNOW SOMETHING. "

I am not sure why allthingswhumpyandangsty mentions 'copyright infringement issue' - maybe they meant IP infringement? "Copyright infringement" is something fandom and fic are often accused of - despite falling under Fair Use.

AIs trying to vacuum up fanfic in order to "train" AIs, along with tricking the authors into deleting the fics, only to later plagiarize them... I'm not sure what that is called, other than plagiarizing and scamming. Is that copyright infringement, or intellectual property theft, or both? I'm not familiar with the legal aspects, other than what I've read in fandom spaces re: Fair Use.