The dispute between Automattic and WP Engine has intensified. Both companies have issued Cease and Desist orders to each other, leading WP Engine to remove the news feed from the WordPress admin dashboard. In response, WordPress.org has now banned WP Engine from utilizing any of its resources.

The WordPress.org statement read: "Pending their legal claims and litigation against WordPress.org, WP Engine no longer has free access to WordPress.org's resources. WP Engine wants to control your WordPress experience, they need to run their own user login system, update servers, plugin directory, theme directory, pattern directory, block directory, translations, photo directory, job board, meetups, conferences, bug tracker, forums, Slack, Ping-o-matic, and showcase. Their servers can no longer access our servers for free."

The statement continued: "The reason WordPress sites don't get hacked as much anymore is we work with hosts to block vulnerabilities at the network layer, WP Engine will need to replicate that security research on their own. Why should WordPress.org provide these services to WP Engine for free, given their attacks on us?"

The announcement also reiterated what was shared in the WP Engine is not WordPress article. "WP Engine is free to offer their hacked up, bastardized simulacra of WordPress's GPL code to their customers, and they can experience WordPress as WP Engine envisions it, with them getting all of the profits and providing all of the services."

For those wondering about Flywheel, Matt has clarified that Flywheel also would be affected as WP Engine had acquired Flywheel in 2019.

The new status page on WP Engine explains: "There is currently no impact on the performance, reliability or security of your site nor does it impact your ability to make updates to your code or content. We know how important this is for you and we are actively developing a remediation for this issue."

Meanwhile, Automattic-owned Pressable has a new page. The WordPress community is not happy with these events. Several people have come forward to offer help to those caught in the crossfire.