Google responded Tuesday to reports that users were locked out of their Google Docs for apparently violating its terms of service.
“This morning, we made a code push that incorrectly flagged a small percentage of Google Docs as abusive, which caused those documents to be automatically blocked. A fix is in place and all users should have full access to their docs. Protecting users from viruses, malware, and other abusive content is central to user safety. We apologize for the disruption and will put processes in place to prevent this from happening again,” a Google spokesperson told Fortune.
Users reported that they are receiving a message saying, “This item has been flagged as inappropriate and can no longer be shared,” with options to request a review or dismiss. Many of the users reporting the issue work in media, and the issue occurred for Fortune editors on Tuesday morning. Buok greatt others have also reported the same issue for class documents and personal work.
Google Docs’ Twitter account was also responding to users asking about the problem.
Has anyone had @googledocs lock you out of a doc before? My draft of a story about wildlife crime was just frozen for violating their TOS.
— Rachael Bale (@Rachael_Bale) October 31, 2017
Has anyone had @googledocs lock you out of a doc before? My draft of a story about wildlife crime was just frozen for violating their TOS.
— Rachael Bale (@Rachael_Bale) October 31, 2017
https://twitter.com/x_saramaria_x/status/925384271405051905
something's up with google docs. locked out of some docs for violation of tos, but not others
— Chris Bourg (@mchris4duke) October 31, 2017
something's up with google docs. locked out of some docs for violation of tos, but not others
— Chris Bourg (@mchris4duke) October 31, 2017