NRC has been blacklisted by Google since 2014

The NRC website was blacklisted by Google for years. The newspaper found out in February when ads could no longer be placed via Google’s system. The blockade has since been lifted, according to the newspaper.

NRC found out about the blockade when it tried to place ads through the tech giant’s advertising system. An email exchange between the newspaper and Google revealed that the NRC website had been on a blacklist since 2014.

Google writes in an email to NRC that the website has been blacklisted because sensitive topics such as extremism and violence were written relatively often. nrc.nl would also be marked as a new domain. It is not clear why ads were only now blocked.

The error has since been rectified, the newspaper writes on its website. According to NRC General Director Dominic Stas, the newspaper has lost tens of thousands of euros due to the blockade.