A routine visit to the website of The Sun resulted in an access block after the outlet’s automated security system flagged a user as potentially engaging in non-human activity.

The notice, displayed prominently on the site, warned that News Group Newspapers prohibits any automated retrieval, scraping, or data-mining of its material, including via artificial intelligence or machine-learning tools.

The message stated that the platform’s systems had interpreted the user’s behaviour as automated and therefore in violation of its terms and conditions.

It directed visitors to contact customer support to confirm legitimate access or, in the case of commercial requests, to seek permission through the publisher’s designated licensing channel.

The notice emphasised that automated extraction of text or data from the outlet’s service is not permitted under any circumstances.

The publisher acknowledged that genuine readers can occasionally be misidentified by automated detection systems, advising them to reach out for reinstatement.

Such warnings have become increasingly common across major media organisations as they seek to protect digital content amid rising concerns about large-scale scraping and the unauthorised use of journalism in training data for external systems.

The incident underscores the tightening of access controls across the news industry as publishers balance user experience with stronger safeguards over the distribution and commercial use of their material.