News Group Newspapers is actively enforcing a strict policy against the automated scraping and data mining of its online content, a measure that explicitly targets AI and machine learning systems. The publisher’s terms and conditions now prohibit any automated means, whether direct or via an intermediary, from accessing, collecting, or mining text and data from its services.
To implement this ban, the company uses a detection system that monitors user behavior for patterns indicative of automation. However, the publisher acknowledges that this system can occasionally misinterpret human activity, resulting in legitimate users being inadvertently blocked.
When a user is flagged, they are presented with a notice explaining the policy. News Group Newspapers provides clear channels for recourse. Companies seeking permission for commercial use of the content are directed to contact crawlpermission@news.co.uk. Meanwhile, regular users who believe they have been wrongly flagged can reach out to customer support at help@thesun.co.uk to have their access restored.
