Google Blogger Bug Locked Legitimate Sites, Mistaking Them for Malware

Key Takeaways

• Google’s automated content scanning systems erroneously flagged thousands of legitimate Blogger sites as containing malware.
• The widespread lockout, which began on August 4, 2026, was caused by a misinterpretation of copyright protection scripts in third-party templates.
• Affected blogs were locked with a “Malware and Similar Malicious Content” violation notice, preventing owners from making updates.
• Google has acknowledged the false positives, and an internal team is reportedly working on a fix.
• Owners of locked blogs must manually request a review through their Blogger dashboard to regain access.

Widespread Google Blogger Bug Locks Legitimate Sites, Citing Malware

Thousands of Google Blogger website owners faced an unexpected lockout this week, discovering their legitimate blogs had been disabled and marked with a “Malware and Similar Malicious Content” violation. The incident, which commenced on August 4, 2026, has prompted a surge of complaints across Google’s official Blogger Help Community, with users adamantly denying any malicious content on their platforms.

Automated System Misidentifies Safe Content

The sheer volume of reports quickly drew the attention of Google’s Product Experts, who actively monitor support forums. DarkUFO, a Product Expert, confirmed that the mass lockout was not a targeted enforcement action but rather a widespread error originating from Google’s automated content-scanning mechanisms. According to the statement shared in the community thread, the identical nature and timing of these reports strongly indicated a systemic misclassification issue, rather than isolated moderation mistakes. “False positives do occur from time to time, but not on this scale,” DarkUFO noted, assuring users that Google’s internal teams had been alerted and were actively developing a solution.

Initial investigations within the Blogger community suggest that the automated detection system misidentified benign copyright-protection encryption scripts. These scripts are frequently embedded in popular free third-party templates from providers like Sora Templates, Gooyaabi, and various Blogging Themes marketplaces. Designed to safeguard the intellectual property of template creators, these scripts were apparently flagged by Google’s algorithms as obfuscated malicious code, despite posing no actual security threat to blog visitors.

Recurring Issue, Unprecedented Scale

This is not the first instance of Blogger’s automated moderation causing disruption for site owners. Similar waves of false positives have occurred periodically over the years. However, community moderators highlight that the current incident is particularly notable due to the extensive number of blogs affected in a single day and the uniform reason for the violation across all reported cases.

What You Should Do

• If your blog displays a “Note: this blog has been locked” message, log into your Blogger dashboard immediately.
• Navigate to the Info tab and click the “Request Review” button located beneath the lock notice.
• For users managing multiple blogs, select the specific blog marked with a red exclamation icon from the left sidebar before initiating the review.
• Once a review is requested, the blog becomes read-only, preventing access to publishing, settings, or theme tools until the manual review is completed.
• Be aware that review timelines can vary, from a few hours to several business days.
• Google enforces a 90-day deadline for locked blogs; unresolved cases after this period risk permanent deletion. Promptly submit your review request to avoid this outcome.
• Monitor your email and Blogger dashboard notifications regularly for updates on your blog’s status.

Disclaimer: HackersRadar reports on cybersecurity threats and incidents for informational and awareness purposes only. We do not engage in hacking activities, data exfiltration, or the hosting or distribution of stolen or leaked information. All content is based on publicly available sources.