CNN is blocking the Brave Browser
cnn.comGood sign Brave is working for the user. I haven't followed CNN in a long time. There is something extremely superficial about them.
I dislike them (and many other news sources) because they've transformed from a "this is what happened" model to a "this is what you should think" model.
Worse than that I find they are among the worst offenders when it comes to refusing to provide primary sources for things.
Person X said a bad thing and you should be angry about it because of XYZ, but, failing to actually link to the tweet/video/etc which allows you to see what actually happened, how is that acceptable?
I don't think CNN's reporting (such as it is) has materially changed. It was nearly half opinion-based shows from the day it launched. The only thing it excelled at was live or realtime reporting, since it was the first dedicated 24-hours news cycle. Even back in the 80s it focused on emotion porn (save baby Jessica!) as much as actual news. It's probable that your analysis has changed more than your content has.
I absolutely hate that practice and CNN is far from alone in doing it. It's become extremely common. When it comes to mainstream news CNN tends to avoid outright lies, but they do omit a lot and their bias comes out in what they choose to report on and how they talk about it.
This is happening with other browsers, not just Brave. I get the same error with Firefox and Chrome:
Browser Blocked
We apologize, but your web browser is configured in such a way that it is preventing this site from implementing required components that protect your privacy and allow you to view and change your privacy settings. This functionality is required for privacy legislation in your region.
We recommend you use a different browser or disable the “EasyList Cookie” filter from your “Content Filtering” settings (found under “Settings” -> “Shields” in the Brave Browser).
Interestingly enough, I can open the CNN website Opera and Edge just fine. My location is in Germany.
Yeah, the HN link is to the "browser blocked" page directly. There was no redirect sending you there - you went directly there.
It's not clear if this page was intended to be public, or if there are redirects to it already (but are not actually active)
No, I’m receiving this same block notice from Safari on mobile with content blockers disabled in Italy by visiting cnn.com.
I found this page by googling the Brave block message on the website that had nothing to do with my browser. I was happy to see the first link was here.
cnn.com is a pretty rough experience these days.
But lite.cnn.com still loads stories near instantly with no bloat / ads.
I don't read NPR but there's text.npr.com too
CNN is blocking ad blockers, not just Brave.
It works for me in Firefox and I've got uBlock Origin with the EasyList Cookie filter enabled. The intent to block ad-blockers seems to be there at least.
It's really hard to know what the actual issue is when these kinds of things happen thanks to all the gaslighting A/B testing brought to the web.
edition.cnn.com worked fine on Brave just now.
It shows that browser link, with the following content:
We apologize, but your web browser is configured in such a way that it is preventing this site from implementing required components that protect your privacy and allow you to view and change your privacy settings. This functionality is required for privacy legislation in your region.
We recommend you use a different browser or disable the “EasyList Cookie” filter from your “Content Filtering” settings (found under “Settings” -> “Shields” in the Brave Browser).
GDPR related somehow? If you are blocking all cookies or something it might just exclude you entirely to be on the safe side legally. I haven't used Brave but I imagine if it doesn't have that functionality, you might have a plugin that does.
To me this means they need to ensure they can track you if you visit their site, probably on behalf of their advertisers. If you aren't able or willing to be tracked, they don't want your viewership.
As more news corporations follow, users who don't consent to tracking will see different news than users who do consent.
To fix this problem add cnn.com to your blocklist.
This worked really well and as a bonus I don’t even get tempted to look at their garbage “news.”
With Brave on Ubuntu:
- This URL prints a blocked message: https://www.cnn.com/browser-blocked
- This URL works fine: https://www.cnn.com/
Admin should take this HN link down IMO. The title is misleading, CNN is not blocking the brave browser. They do have a browser-blocked page, and navigating directly to that page does indeed show that pages contents. Without further information, the link title is completely wrong. There needs to be some demonstration that brave browsers are actually being redirected.
It does state as the only fix:
We recommend you use a different browser or disable the “EasyList Cookie” filter from your “Content Filtering” settings (found under “Settings” -> “Shields” in the Brave Browser).
That would lead one to believe it is Brave specific. But I can verify I’m getting this on Safari without a content blocker.
I am always nervous about tiny browsers claiming to protect your privacy but really they are the ones shipping it out.
I think this is now fixed (or worked around) by https://github.com/easylist/easylist/issues/17937 ?
No, it isn't. I'm using Brave right now AND a number of DNS lists at the router, and cnn.com is still working.
Nothing worth seeing there anyways.
They've also blocked the video player when you switch off of the tab. So I pop out the video in Firefox and play it in the background.
It works for me on Brave. Probably only does that when the skip gdpr notices is enabled.I noticed a lot kf sites behave abnormal when that option is enabled.