Are you being blocked by mistake: 3 reasons your clicks look robotic and 2 fixes you can try

One minute you’re reading, the next a wall appears asking if you’re real. It feels personal, but it isn’t about you.

Across major news sites, stricter bot checks now stop suspicious traffic before pages load. Sometimes that net catches genuine readers. Here is what sits behind the message, what it means for you, and how to get back in.

Why you see the robot wall

News Group Newspapers Limited, the publisher behind titles such as The Sun, runs automated systems that spot patterns linked to bots. The checks protect content and keep servers stable during traffic spikes. When your clicks resemble scripted activity, the system blocks access and shows a verification notice.

News Group Newspapers prohibits automated access, collection, or text/data mining of its content, including for AI, machine learning, or LLMs, under its terms.

False positives happen. Quick page refreshes, a jittery internet connection, aggressive ad or privacy extensions, a shared office IP, or a VPN can all nudge your footprint towards bot-like behaviour. The system reads the pattern, not the person.

The emails that matter

If you believe the block is wrong, the publisher invites you to get in touch:

• For reader help: [email protected]
• For commercial content use and licensing queries: [email protected]

If you need a licence for crawling, text and data mining, or any automated collection, you must request permission at [email protected].

The bigger picture: publishers versus scrapers and AI training

Behind the scenes, a numbers battle shapes these defences. Industry reports estimate that automated traffic now accounts for roughly half of web visits, with around one in three requests traced to so-called bad bots designed to scrape, spam, or probe. That surge pushes publishers to set tighter thresholds and to block entire IP ranges when signals look risky.

AI training raised the stakes. Newsrooms invest in reporters, editors, and rights. Unauthorised scraping extracts that investment at massive scale. Some media groups now strike data licensing deals for machine learning, while still forbidding unapproved crawling. Others reject automated use altogether and require explicit consent before any text or data mining runs.

This arms race moves fast. When sites detect rapid-fire requests, unusual browser fingerprints, or non-standard scripts, they reject the session. Human readers sometimes sit behind those patterns, especially on crowded networks or through corporate gateways. That’s why support desks now handle more misclassification cases than a year ago, and why publishers publish clear contact points.

Five quick fixes if you’re wrongly flagged

• Turn off your VPN or change exit location, then reload once. Many blocks target shared VPN nodes.
• Disable ad, script, and privacy extensions for the site, or try a clean browser profile.
• Stop rapid refreshing. Wait 60 seconds before a new attempt so rate limits can reset.
• Use a standard, up-to-date browser. Headless or niche builds often trigger checks.
• Move off congested Wi‑Fi. Hotspots and office gateways can inherit a poor reputation score.

Still stuck? Email [email protected] with the time, your approximate location, device, and a screenshot of the error text.

What counts as “automated” under house rules

Publishers judge behaviour first, tools second. Here is how common actions line up against typical rules:

How long checks last and what gets reviewed

Most blocks expire within minutes or hours, depending on how severe the system rates the signal. The score may reflect IP reputation, request velocity, unusual headers, or device fingerprints. If you toggle your VPN, switch networks, or reduce parallel requests, the score often falls below the threshold and the page loads normally.

Support teams usually ask for timing, device and browser details, whether a VPN was active, and any extension list. That information helps them search logs and adjust filters. They will not need your password, bank details, or other sensitive data to fix access.

For researchers and businesses

If you want to analyse coverage at scale, treat this as a rights issue first and a technical challenge second. Ask the publisher for a licence that covers what you plan to collect, how fast you will request it, how long you will keep it, and what you will build with it. Many groups now insist on rate caps, strict storage rules, and clear attribution. Some offer paid feeds or APIs designed for compliant use.

For any commercial use of content, including crawling, text/data mining, AI training, or aggregation, send your request to [email protected] before you start.

Why your clicks may look robotic

Two patterns cause most false flags. First, shared IPs: coffee shops, airports, offices, and VPN clusters funnel hundreds of users through a handful of addresses. If one heavy scraper burns that address, everyone behind it inherits the penalty. Second, noisy browsers: a stack of extensions changes headers, blocks scripts, and breaks normal timing, which triggers risk models.

You can test your footprint. Open a private window, disable extensions, and connect without a VPN. Load a single page and wait. If that succeeds, re‑enable tools one by one until you find the culprit. If nothing works, write to [email protected] and include the full error text shown on the block page.

What this means for ordinary readers

Expect more challenges during big news moments, when traffic spikes and filters tighten. Keep a second browser ready for clean tests. Save key articles for offline reading when possible. If your work depends on reliable access, avoid public Wi‑Fi and set up a stable residential connection with consistent IP reputation.

For professionals who need structured access, the safest route uses licensed feeds or approved APIs. That path avoids rate limits, preserves article context and metadata, and protects projects from sudden blocks. It also respects newsroom investments by paying for the content that underpins your models, dashboards, or research.