These U.S. Media Sites Have Gone Dark in Europe as New GDPR Rules Kick In
Europeans hoping to read the Los Angeles Times this mornings were out of luck. So were those who peruse the Chicago Tribune, New York Daily News, and Baltimore Sun.
Instead of the latest headlines, they saw messages reading the sites were unavailable, and the papers were unavailable and exploring options to return to the EU market.” It was all due to the launch of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), an EU initiative aimed at giving citizens more control over their personal information.
At least two media conglomerates, Tronc and Lee Enterprises, were affected by the rule change, which requires companies to get a user’s express consent to gather personal information or face large fines, up to 4% of its global turnover or $20 euros ($23.4 million), whichever is higher.
Tronc runs newspapers in ten markets. Lee Enterprises publishes 46 daily newspapers across 21 states.
GDPR forces companies to be more vigilant about obtaining consent when they collect user data and gives EU citizens the right to see what information was gathered about them and have it deleted. In cases of data breaches, companies are required to inform users and let authorities know within 72 hours of discovery.
Curious if your local paper was forced to go dark in Europe? Here’s a list of Tronc and Lee news sites, presumed to be inaccessible at present:
Chicago Tribune
Los Angeles Times
New York Daily News
The Baltimore Sun
Orlando Sentinel
Sun-Sentinel (South Florida)
Newport News
Virginia's Daily Press
The Morning Call
Hartford Courant
The San Diego Union-Tribune
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Arizona Daily Star
Wisconsin State Journal
Daily Citizen
Portage Daily Register
Baraboo News Republic
The Times
The Pantagraph
Herald & Review
Lincoln Journal Star
Columbus Telegram
Fremont Tribune
Beatrice Daily Sun
Quad-City Times
La Crosse Tribune
Winona Daily News
The Chippewa Herald
Billings Gazette
The Courier
Sioux City Journal
The Bismarck Tribune
The Post-Star
Missoulian
Ravalli Republic
The Southern Illinoisan
Rapid City Journal
Independent Record
The Montana Standard
The Journal Times
Albany Democrat-Herald
Corvallis Gazette-Times
Casper Star-Tribune
The Times-News
Elko Daily Free Press
Globe Gazette
The Daily News
Santa Maria Times
Napa Valley Register
Arizona Daily Sun
The Citizen
The Times and Democrat
The Sentinel (Carlisle, PA)
The World
The Sentinel (Hanford, CA)
The Ledger Independent
Daily Journal
Also offline, presumably temporarily, in Europe is Instapaper, the Pinterest owned app that lets readers save stories for later reading.
