Particular major U.S. media websites were blocked to Europeans on Friday as the European Association’s new data protection law kicked in.
The websites of the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, New York Regularly News and other publications owned by Tronc were down, display the message: “Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in most European provinces. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our blinding range of digital offerings to the EU market.”
Tronc echoed that meaning in an emailed statement to CNBC. It said it would look to find “complicated compliance solutions” to reopen its site to readers in Europe.
News situations owned by Lee Enterprises, which include the Arizona Daily Sun and Star certificates and the Times of Northwest Indiana, were also unavailable in Europe. A implication on Lee Enterprises’ website and the websites of its subsidiaries read: “We recognize you are attempting to access this website from a nation belonging to the European Economic Area (EEA) including the EU which enforces the Unspecific Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and therefore cannot grant you access at the antiquated.”
Websites run by U.S. media firm A+E Networks, including History.com and FYI, were also down in Europe, with a news merely saying: “This content is not available in your area.”
Lee Drives and A+E Networks were not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.
The EU’s GDPR was instrumented on Friday. The new rules mean that firms must obtain straightforward consent from customers in order to use their data. It also allow ti people request to see all the data firms have on them and to have the figures deleted.
Major U.S. news sites like The Washington Post and The New York Patches were unaffected. Others, including Oath-owned TechCrunch, the Huffington Post and Engadget, presented a message asking for users’ consent before letting them stop in.
GDPR threatens to fine firms up to 4 percent of global annual volume or 20 million euros ($23.4 million) — whichever is bigger — for violations.