Google mistakenly locks hundreds of Blogger websites

Google locked hundreds of legitimate Blogger websites, with some even being deleted, due to a false positive flagging them for violating the "Malware and Similar Malicious Content" policy, based on information published by Bleeping Computer.

The issue began on Aug. 4, impacting numerous blogs that do not host malware or malicious scripts. Web administrators have reported the problem on Google's official forum, with a Blogger Product Expert suggesting that automated systems likely caused the misclassification. Affected users see a red padlock warning in their dashboard, indicating the blog has been locked and may be permanently deleted within three months if an appeal is not submitted. While locked, owners cannot access their dashboard to manage posts, settings, or themes. Some users reported their blogs were restored only to be deleted again. The exact number of affected sites is unknown, but third-party trackers estimate nearly 200,000 sites are hosted on Blogger. While not all users are affected, some who appealed have had their blogs restored.

Source: Bleeping Computer