- Bloomberg’s “unusual activity” interstitial is an anti-bot measure triggered by traffic patterns or browser/network settings that resemble automated access.
- Users must complete a CAPTCHA and enable standard browser features like JavaScript and cookies to proceed.
- Common causes include VPNs/proxies/shared IPs, high request volumes, blocked scripts or cookies, and outdated or modified browsers.
- For institutional or high-volume users, mitigating disruptions may require dedicated/static IPs, compliant configurations, and coordination with Bloomberg support or account teams.
Read More
Bloomberg’s interstitial notice (“We’ve detected unusual activity from your computer network”) is an anti-automation, anti-abuse system designed to protect its content infrastructure from bot-based scraping, DDoS, or policy-violative usage. The prompt forces human verification via CAPTCHA and reaffirms rules around browser behavior, cookies, JS, and network hygiene.
From a technical standpoint, triggering this interstitial can stem from IPs flagged for anomalous request rates, shared or high-volume networks (e.g. behind NAT/VPN/proxy), missing browser functionality (blocked cookies/JS), or browser extensions interfering with expected behaviors. The presence of a block reference ID (UUID) implies Bloomberg logs these events in its backend; this could tie into thresholds of traffic considered “unusual.”
For a professional-grade user or institutional client (e.g. in investment banking), these interruptions have operational risk. Large-scale data retrieval (terminal/data APis) or frequent article access might inadvertently trigger the system. Without awareness or controls, workflows may break during high traffic or when tools rotate IPs (e.g. cloud-based scraping or statistical systems). Thus, risk mitigation is necessary.
Strategic implications include: (a) internal user training to avoid shared or flagged networks; (b) ensuring browser standard compliance; (c) consider dedicated infrastructure with static IPs that can be recognized by Bloomberg; (d) reaching out to Bloomberg’s client services to register such IPs or explain non-standard usage patterns to avoid false positives; (e) review usage SLAs or contract terms if high-volume access is business-critical.
Open questions:
- What exact criteria does Bloomberg use to define “unusual activity” (request per minute thresholds? IP reputation? content type shifts)?
- What recourse exists under subscription or enterprise contracts—can Bloomberg mark trusted IPs or business users to suppress the interstitial?
- How durable is a user’s workaround—e.g. disabling VPN, clearing cache—for heavy usage purposes? Does the interstitial reset automatically, or persist until manual remediation?
- What logging or operational visibility is given to users about when and why they were flagged?
Supporting Notes
- Bloomberg’s prompt states that unusual activity was detected from the user’s network, requiring CAPTCHA verification (“click the box below to let us know you’re not a robot”) and enabling JavaScript and cookies.
- The block also displays a reference ID (UUID) that the user is advised to supply to support if they need help.
- Guidance from third-party troubleshooting sources confirms that enabling JavaScript/cookies, disabling ad-blockers or script blockers, and avoiding VPNs or proxies often resolve these blocks.
- Bloomberg’s system is described elsewhere as distinguishing between human users and bots, protecting content integrity, and reacting to high traffic, unusual patterns, or shared IP usage.
- In cases of sudden shifts in usage pattern (e.g. new data types or increased scraping intensity), Bloomberg’s internal algorithms may treat these as anomalous unless clients communicate their usage patterns in advance. [reddit user reports cited in context]