Search Engine Journal reported on October 29 that OpenAI runs a central site-safety check, referred to in its systems as Aura, that decides whether its browsing tools may connect to a website at all. When a site is flagged, ChatGPT's live search and Codex's Browser Use refuse to open it — overriding the user's own settings and the site's robots.txt — and the block is cached for 24 hours.

OpenAI's public help pages acknowledge that agents may be blocked for security, safety and compliance reasons, and its documentation says browsing is blocked on sites linked to illegal activity. But the exact triggers are not public, and there is no self-service page, status page or appeal process for a site owner who believes a block is a mistake.

The article's case study is an unnamed international publisher blocked from ChatGPT since May 2026, with all five tested URLs still refused weeks later while competitors loaded fine. Search Engine Journal advises blocked owners to open a support case and ask whether their domain carries a site-safety classification; OpenAI did not comment in the article.