MuggleNet has become a Horcrux

It is now possessed by the soul of corporate greed and we are gutted about it.

Leaky has always enjoyed a warm relationship with our fellow Harry Potter fan sites. We joke about being rivals but fandom isn’t pie with only so many pieces to go around. Most, if not all, of you reading this probably visit other fan sites and follow them on social media. All of the major fan outlets usually get invites when there are premieres and events such as theme park openings. We greet each other there and catch up, sometimes sitting together at meals or complimenting each other on an insightful article or funny video. We appear on each other’s podcasts and, in Leaky’s case, shared some memorable live co-podcasting from LeakyCon. Each site is unique in its approach to offering fan content and we all find our own niche, united by our love for the magical world of Harry Potter.

At present, Leaky is feeling heartsick for our friends at MuggleNet (MN). Both sites launched in the early days of the online Harry Potter fandom and facilitated its communication and growth before social media. Both sites hosted fan fiction and created podcasts, PotterCast and MuggleCast, that provided seemingly endless speculation and theorising that was an engaging lifeline to fans during the long wait between books and films. MuggleNet’s large staff enabled it to provide fans with a prodigious amount of content, both online and in print magazines and books.

In 2020, the site changed ownership to a company, Topix Media Lab, that had been in partnership with MN for its print publications. For some years after the sale, operations at the site appeared similar from the outside, albeit with a seemingly bigger push for ad revenue by Topix. In September 2025, Topix emailed MN staff to inform them that their services were no longer required. Staff numbers had fluctuated but some had remained dedicated to MN for nearly 20 years. Unless the owners planned to shut down MN, why abruptly dismiss all that institutional knowledge and devotion? The mystery deepened when Topix posted an ad on LinkedIn looking for a single full-time paid staff member to run the site. Qualifications listed for the position included an MBA.

As reported in La Gazette du Sorcier, in February 2026, some former staff members filed a class action suit against Topix in New Jersey District Court alleging that it had violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by not paying them for their work on the site. The complaint is publicly available and alleges that Topix improperly classified the MN staff as “volunteers” whilst obtaining economic benefit from their labour. As that suit wends its way through the legal system, posts have appeared on MN social channels hinting at change for the site and, on April 23, a rebranded site appeared, with no advertisements and with most of the historic content gone. (This sudden change has been dissected on the Harry Potter subreddit under the title “RIP MuggleNet”.) You can follow the progress of the case here.

Why remove all content, decades worth of fan contributions, and start over with a clean slate? Why dismiss all staff and hire an MBA? What is the goal, the benefit of this new approach for Topix, the site’s current owner?

It might have something to do with the upcoming HBO Harry Potter series. By renovating the site and clearing out all the old content and people associated with it, they can approach Warner Bros./HBO about securing an exclusive sponsorship deal to promote the new series. Unlike a brand new fan site, this relaunch brings with it the reputation and following of MuggleNet, but it no longer has any content about the movies or critical references to the author, just a blank canvas for promotion of the new series.

The appeal to Topix is obvious: A lucrative contract as an official outlet for a series expected to run for nearly a decade. But I think, much like Voldemort did not consider the power of love, Topix, a for-profit company that appears to publish a variety of official and unofficial branded content across pop culture, has not considered the power of community. The owners appear to have more of a corporate mentality; they do not think like fans. Perhaps they are not concerned about the possibility of tanking MuggleNet’s reputation and losing followers because they assume the series will bring in a whole new generation of fans who will follow the site without knowing its history. Maybe they are right and the furore around the series will get them new likes and follows on social media. Perhaps they will get their exclusive contract, although it will be surprising if Warner Bros. and HBO are eager to partner with a company that is being sued for allegedly not paying its staff. Regardless, they have done great violence to their souls by jettisoning the entire staff and site archives in what looks like a myopic lust for money and power. Such selfish grasping usually ends badly – just ask You Know Who.