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GDPR: US news sites blocked to EU users over data protection rules

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A number of high-profile US news websites are temporarily unavailable in Europe after new European Union rules on data protection came into effect.

The Chicago Times and LA Times were among those posting messages saying they were currently unavailable in most European countries.

News sites within the Tronc and Lee Enterprises media publishing groups were affected.

Tronc’s high-profile sites include the New York Daily News, Chicago Tribune, LA Times, Orlando Sentinel and Baltimore Sun.

Its message read: “Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in most European countries. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to the EU market.”

Lee Enterprises publishes 46 daily newspapers across 21 states.

Its statement read: “We’re sorry. This site is temporarily unavailable. We recognise you are attempting to access this website from a country belonging to the European Economic Area (EEA) including the EU which enforces the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and therefore cannot grant you access at this time.”

CNN and the New York Times were among those not affected. The Washington Post and Time were among those requiring EU users to agree to new terms.

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