LONDON: Major United States (US) media outlets including the LA Times and Chicago Tribune were forced to shutter their websites in parts of Europe on Friday following the rollout of stringent new privacy regulations by the European Union (EU).
Privacy advocates have hailed the new law as a model for personal data protection in the internet era but opponents say the new rules are overly burdensome and have warned of costly business disruption.
Tronc, headquartered in Chicago, owns some of America’s biggest newspapers, including the LA Times, Chicago Tribune, New York Daily News and Baltimore Sun.
“We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to the EU market,” said the error message displayed in response to attempts to access the LA Times website in London and Brussels.