Hundreds of Legitimate Blogs Locked in Malware False Positive, Google Investigates
A massive misclassification error has locked hundreds of legitimate blogs on Google’s Blogger platform, with many owners reporting that their sites have been flagged as hosting malware. The issue began on August 4 and appears to be a result of an automated system incorrectly identifying websites as malicious.
The situation is causing frustration for web administrators who are unable to access their dashboard tabs while their site is locked. A red padlock warning message indicates that the blog has been removed due to violating Blogger’s Community Guidelines, with the option to request a review. However, publishers have reported that even after submitting an appeal, their sites were deleted again.
It seems that this issue is not isolated to just one or two websites but affects hundreds of legitimate blogs across the platform. While it is unclear how many sites are hosted on Blogger, some third-party trackers suggest that around 200,000 sites are using the service. This raises questions about the effectiveness of Google’s automated systems in identifying malicious content.
According to a statement from Google, the company is aware of the issue and is working on a fix to resolve it as quickly as possible. “We are aware of a bug that incorrectly flagged some Blogger-hosted sites as malware for less than a day,” said a spokesperson. This false positive has left many web admins scrambling to restore access to their sites.
One of the most concerning aspects of this situation is how easily automated systems can misclassify websites as malicious. This highlights the importance of regularly testing and verifying security measures, such as website scanners and firewalls. In an ideal world, security teams would catch all threats before they make it into a network, but in reality, even with advanced technology, false positives like this one can still occur.
For those affected by this issue, Google’s support team is urging them to request a review of their blog through the Blogger dashboard. While some users have reported that their sites were restored and then deleted again, others are seeing their blogs come back online after submitting an appeal. This incident serves as a reminder to always keep a close eye on your website’s security and to regularly test every layer of protection before attackers do.
In conclusion, this is a developing story, and we will continue to monitor the situation for updates from Google. In the meantime, it’s essential to remember that even with advanced technology, mistakes can happen. By staying vigilant and regularly testing our defenses, we can minimize the risk of false positives like this one occurring in the future.
Source: Bleeping Computer — 2026-08-05