Why Google is warning that ‘google.com’ is ‘partially dangerous’

Google is warning you to watch out for, well, Google. As of April 19, the search giant's own Safe Browsing tool labels "google.com" as "partially dangerous." The tool, which automatically scans "billions of URLs per day looking for unsafe websites," cites "google.com" for some potentially scary problems. "Some pages on this website install malware on visitors' computers," the Safe Browsing Site Status page warned, adding that "[a]ttackers on this site might try to trick you to download software or steal your information." Google declined to comment on the site's status, but those ominous warnings likely don't mean that visiting "google.com" itself is dangerous.

Instead, they suggest that some people have used Google services to host or link to something malicious, so the tool is flagging the whole domain as a little risky. "Users sometimes post bad content on websites that are normally safe," the page explained. It's not clear how long google.com has been flagged as "partially dangerous," although some reddit users noticed it Tuesday -- the same day the Site Status page says its information was last updated. A flurry of blog posts from last November suggest google.com was also flagged with the dubious distinction back then.