Attempting to reach the websites of some American news publishers from Romania is harder as of today, when the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) kicked in, with the new rules aimed at protecting the data of EU citizens being enforced across the 28 member states.
Business Review checked from Bucharest the websites of several US-based news publishers to see if readers from Romania can still access them. If media organizations with global reach such as the Wall Street Journal, CNN, Bloomberg or The Washington Post can still be visited, the story is different for other publications.
For instance, the website of Los Angeles Times is unavailable from Romania.
“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. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism,” said a statement posted on the website.
News sites owned by media companies like Tronc and Lee Enterprises are now totally dark in European Union countries, according to the BBC.
The New York Daily News, the St. Louis Dispatch, the Chicago Tribune, and the Orlando Sentinel are also blocked.
If using a VPN, these sites can be accessed.
Meanwhile, NPR gives readers the option to agree with the cookie policy or decline and visit the plain text site.