This guide shows you how to remove paywalls and read newspapers for free without needing a subscription or any registration.
Have you found an interesting article and would like to read it, but once you open the page, you discover that you need to subscribe?
A bit disappointing, you close the page and look for another article.
However, you should know that you can read articles from some online newspapers for free even if they have put up blocks, the so-called paywalls, which do not allow you to read the articles unless you subscribe.
Some paywalls use cookies as systems to track your behavior and block reading. Others are based on different systems that can be bypassed by doing a simple copy and paste or disabling some functions in the browser that block the operation of the paywall.
Let’s immediately see three systems that allow you to read online newspapers for free even if they have a block requiring you to subscribe.
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Method 1
Read newspapers for free with a simple copy and paste
The first solution to remove paywalls and read newspapers for free that we propose is really simple. All you have to do is open the online article that interests you, copy the article’s URL, and paste it into Google. Let’s look in more detail at this method to remove the paywall block.
As a first step, open the article you want to read and copy the article’s URL. To copy it, just click on the address bar, the field where you enter the website addresses, with the left mouse button to select the URL, then right-click and select Copy. Alternatively, you can use the CTRL+C key combination to copy the URL after you have selected it.
Next, you need to open a new browser page and go to the Google search page. At this point, all you have to do is paste the URL you had copied. Be careful, you should not paste it into the address bar but into the Google search field.
In the search results, you will see, if this method is applicable to the newspaper you are trying to read, the link to the article that was being blocked in the search results. Just click on it and the page of the complete article will open without any block.
If this method did not work, continue reading and a second method will be shown that can help you remove the blocks and read some online newspapers for free by removing the paywall.”
Method 2
Disable Javascript
A second method to read newspapers for free is to disable the reading of Javascript code on your browser. This function allows you to test sites without running Javascript code. Some sites, in fact, insert programming code in Javascript to block reading. To disable it, follow the paths indicated for the main browsers.
Chrome
At this point, refresh the page and the paywall should have been removed.
Copy and paste the bold link below into the address bar of the Opera browser – opera://settings/content/javascript
On the page that opens, you need to go to the Custom Behaviors section and click on Add in the Cannot Use JavaScript part. At this point, you simply need to enter the web address of the newspaper you are interested in and click Add again.
Now you need to refresh the page and you should not see the paywall.
Edge
Method 3
Delete cookies or browse in incognito
The main income of online sites comes from advertising and subscriptions. Often some sites, to encourage readers to visit their pages, allow the possibility of reading some articles for free without activating any block. But once the set limit is reached, the articles are no longer readable without a subscription.
This operating principle, as mentioned above, is based on the cookie system to keep track of how many articles each user has read. Cookies are “traces” that are stored in the browser we use. Cookies can store some information about our behavior, such as the duration of viewing a page, the page that has been visited, and more.
To know what information is stored, you need to check the Cookie policy of the site you are visiting. If you want to delete these traces and enforce your freedom not to be tracked then you will see how you can do it in the continuation.
Once you have deleted the traces, in practice the systems that are based on cookies cannot detect your traces, thus appearing as a new visitor. Therefore, the system will allow you to read the article.
Let’s now look in detail at the third method to read newspapers for free thanks to the possibility of deleting our “traces”.
How?
There are two very simple solutions to prevent the system from using cookies to detect the data of our readings:
- Delete cookies
- Browse in incognito
How to delete cookies
The procedure for deleting cookies depends on the browser you use. Later you will see how to delete browsing data from the Chrome, Opera, Edge, and Facebook app browsers.
Chrome
To delete cookies, you need to click on the 3 dots at the top right of the browser. Then you need to go to Settings > Privacy and security > Cookies and other site data. Once here, you need to Clear cookies and site data when you quit Chrome. This procedure only needs to be applied once and is therefore the fastest and most convenient. Simply closing and reopening Chrome will completely delete the cookies and allow you to read the articles again.
Opera
On Opera, to delete cookies, you need to click on the red O at the top left of the browser and then go to Settings > Advanced > Privacy and security > Cookies and other site data. Once here, you need to activate Clear cookies and site data when you quit Opera. This procedure only needs to be applied once and therefore you will not have to do it every time. As with Chrome, once you have changed the settings, simply closing and reopening Opera will completely delete the cookies and allow you to read the articles again.
Edge
To delete cookies on Edge, you need to click on the 3 horizontal dots that you find at the top right of the browser then Settings > Privacy, search, and services > Choose what to clear every time you close the browser. Once here, you need to activate Cookies and other site data. As with the other browsers, this procedure only needs to be applied once and is therefore the fastest and most convenient. To completely delete the cookies and be able to read the articles again, simply close and reopen Edge.
Browser app Facebook (Android)
The deletion of cookies on Facebook’s internal browser is done by opening any newspaper article and clicking on the three horizontal dots at the top right then tap (click) on Access settings > Clear in the Browsing data section. It will be enough to go back and open the article you wanted to read again and you will be able to read the article without any limitation.
How to browse in incognito
Incognito browsing with browsers allows, if the default settings have been maintained, to prevent the storage of cookies. To activate this mode, you can use a combination of keys (shortcut) or through navigation via settings.
The fastest and suggested way to start incognito mode is through the shortcut. You just need to press the Ctrl key, the Shift key, which is indicated on the keyboard with the up arrow symbol, and the N key simultaneously.
Great, now you know some ways on how to remove paywalls and read newspapers for free. All that’s left for you to do is test them out and enjoy reading some interesting articles completely free of charge.
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