News

Google Chrome Starts Blocking Torrent Sites

Since yesterday, Google’s Chrome browser has begun blocking torrent websites, including Torrentz, ExtraTorent, RARBG, and the popular KickAss Torrents, flagging them as containing “harmful programs”.

When users attempt to visit the URL, a red banner bars access, warning that “The site ahead contains harmful programs,” and that “Attackers on [URL] might attempt to trick you into installing programs that harm your browsing experience (for example, by changing your homepage or showing extra ads on sites you visit).”

The owners of the websites have no idea why they have been flagged, other than the suspicion that the controversial sites have been deliberately censored, a number of which have spoken to TorrentFreak. RARBG’s operator told the site, “I hope Google comes to its senses and actually allows webmasters to see what the issue is in their webmasters tools.”

The team from ExtraTorrent were equally confused, saying, “There is no malicious software and you are still able to load ExtraTorrent in Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Chromium and other browsers. We’ll contact Google to resolve the issue shortly.”

Chrome users that wish to bypass the message when accessing torrent sites can disable the browser’s malware warnings.

Google has refused to comment, instead directing queries to a recent blog post.

Recent reports suggest that a similar restriction of access to torrent sites has started to occur with Mozilla’s Firefox browser, too.

Thank you TorrentFreak for providing us with this information.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia.

Ashley Allen

Disqus Comments Loading...

Recent Posts

BenQ MOBIUZ EX2710Q 27″ QHD 165Hz 1ms, HDRi IPS Gaming Monitor

SpeakersSpeakersYesSpeaker amount and power output2x 2 WattDimensionsLength / Depth252.5 mmWidth614 mmHeight525.8 mmWeight7.4 kgStandards / SpecificationsAdaptive…

2 hours ago

Intel Core i7-12700KF 3.60GHz Socket LGA1700 Processor

Thermal SpecificationsMax. TDP125 WCPUCPU ManufacturerIntelCPU SeriesIntel Core i7CPU Socket1700CPU ArchitectureIntel Alder Lake-SCPU Cores12CPU Threads20Performance Cores8Efficiency…

2 hours ago

AOC 24B3HA2 24″ 1920×1080 VA 100Hz 1m Widescreen LED Multimedia Monitor 

AOC 24B3HA2 23.6 1920x1080 VA 100Hz 1m Widescreen LED Multimedia Monitor - Black High-performance clarity…

2 hours ago

Corsair Hydro Series iCUE Link H115i RGB Performance Liquid CPU Cooler

Fan SpecificationsFan Size140 mmColourPrimary ColourBlackSecondary ColourWhiteMaterialsMaterialsAluminium, Copper, RubberLightingLightingYesLighting ColourRGBLighting CompatibilityCorsair iCUEAdditional ContentsIncluded fans2x 140 mmTypeCPU…

2 hours ago

Philips Evnia 34″ 34M2C6500/00 3440×1440 QD-OLED 175Hz 1ms FreeSync Curved Ultrawide Gaming Monitor

This monitor is built with features that make incredible visuals. With VESA ClearMR 9000 and…

2 hours ago

Asus Radeon RX 7900 XTX TUF OC 24GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card

The AMD RDNA™ 3 Architecture elevated by buffed cooling and power delivery to effortlessly churn…

2 hours ago