Several high-profile US news websites have been made unavailable to users in the European Union after new, more stringent data protection laws came into effect on Friday.
Websites including the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Times and Baltimore Sun all displayed an explanatory message saying they were currently unavailable to people browsing within the EU.
“We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to the EU market,” the LA Times message said.
“We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism.”
Access to the websites has been restricted as the EU rolls out its General Data Protection Regulations across its member states.
GDPR rules require companies working in the EU to get express consent to collect personal information, or else face sizeable fines.
This is it.
— European Commission ???????? (@EU_Commission) May 24, 2018
Today, our EU #DataProtection rules enter into application, putting the Europeans back in control of their data.
Europe asserts its digital sovereignty and gets ready for the digital age.
Read our statement → https://t.co/P19IRPWfqv #GDPR pic.twitter.com/hwCKSj2TjE
The BBC reported that news websites owned by media publishing houses Tronc and Lee Enterprises had been taken offline for European users.
Tronc’s portfolio includes the Chicago Tribune, LA Times, Orlando Sentinel, Baltimore Sun and New York Daily News.
Lee Enterprises published 46 daily newspapers across the US, including the Arizona Daily Sun, Pennsylvania’s The Sentinel and the South Idaho Press.