Is www.buzzfeed.com safe?
https://www.buzzfeed.com/
Checked on
How we checked
Coverage: strong · 3 of 4 applicable core capabilities
- Antivirus (60 of 93 engines answered): completed
- Google Safe Browsing: completed
- page reading · limited: did not fully complete
- page capture: completed
- domain records: completed
- web research: completed
BuzzFeed is a long-running media site with clean security checks, but some customers report billing and refund problems
www.buzzfeed.com is the BuzzFeed entertainment and media site. Its domain is about 24 years old, and our security checks found no malware or threat warnings. We kept the score in the Low Risk band rather than Safe because complaint sites contain reports about billing and subscription refunds. These reports describe customer-service friction. They do not show that the site itself is malicious.
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Where this site sits
- Dangerous1–20
- High Risk21–44
- Moderate Risk45–69
- Low Risk70–84
- Safe85–100
The score combines saved evidence strength and analysis quality. Coverage is reported separately.
Why 80/100
Low Risk covers scores 70–84. 3 findings pulled the score down; 3 pushed it up.
What pulled the score down
- Moderate3 independent sources carry complaints or warnings about this site, including: "Buzzfeed would not refund our subscription fee although we never subscribed. Their representative repeatedly ... that she could not issue a refund and they…"
- Moderate3 independent sources carry complaints or warnings about this site, including: "Customer complaints about billing practices and high price level."
- Moderate3 independent sources carry complaints or warnings about this site, including: "Out of all reported cases, 0 complaints (0%) have been marked as resolved, while 12 complaints (100%) remain unresolved."
What pushed the score up
- SupportsThe domain is about 24 years old.
- SupportsAntivirus engines and Safe Browsing found no threats.
- SupportsThe saved TLS check found a valid encrypted connection
No points per finding are stored for this report: our analysis weighed all findings together to set the score. Each finding shows its saved severity instead (Decisive, Strong, Moderate or Minor). Community reviews never change the Safety Score.
01 · Investigation Brief
Investigation Brief
www.buzzfeed.com is the BuzzFeed entertainment and media site. Its domain is about 24 years old, and our security checks found no malware or threat warnings. We kept the score in the Low Risk band rather than Safe because complaint sites contain reports about billing and subscription refunds. These reports describe customer-service friction. They do not show that the site itself is malicious.
No technical threats detected
None of the 93 antivirus engines flagged the site as malicious or suspicious. The browser threat feed returned no warning, and the site uses a valid encrypted connection. The domain has been registered for 8,838 days, which points to a long operating history.
We did not read the site's own pages in full, so its contact details were not reviewed.
Billing and refund complaints on third-party sites
One an independent review platform's reviewer says BuzzFeed would not refund a subscription fee they say they never signed up for. ComplaintsBoard lists 12 complaints, and none are marked as resolved. PissedConsumer collects complaints about billing practices and high prices.
Our screenshot showed a "free trial?" prompt on the site. We did not confirm the terms or renewal conditions behind it.
Why the score is 80
The saved checks found no material threat, but the evidence was not strong enough for the highest Safe tier. Coverage remains separate so missing sources cannot be mistaken for clean results.
02 · Security Evidence
Security evidence
Antivirus Engines
0/ 93
No detectionsFresh result
No detections across 60 engines that rated this URL
No antivirus engine that answered raised an adverse result; 33 had no rating for this URL. This is one signal, not a guarantee.
- Malicious
- 0
- Suspicious
- 0
- Total
- 93
All 93 engine results
- 0xSI_f33d - Unrated
- Abusix - Clean
- Acronis - Clean
- ADMINUSLabs - Clean
- AILabs (MONITORAPP) - Clean
- AlienVault - Clean
- alphaMountain.ai - Unrated
- AlphaSOC - Unrated
- Antiy-AVL - Clean
- ArcSight Threat Intelligence - Unrated
- AutoShun - Unrated
- Bfore.Ai PreCrime - Unrated
- BitDefender - Clean
- Bkav - Unrated
- BlockList - Clean
- Blueliv - Clean
- Certego - Clean
- ChainPatrol - Clean
- Chong Lua Dao - Clean
- CINS Army - Clean
- CRDF - Clean
- Criminal IP - Unrated
- CSIS Security Group - Unrated
- CTX AI - Clean
- Cyan - Unrated
- Cyble - Clean
- CyRadar - Clean
- desenmascara.me - Clean
- DNS8 - Unrated
- Dr.Web - Clean
- EmergingThreats - Clean
- Emsisoft - Clean
- Ermes - Unrated
- ESET - Clean
- ESTsecurity - Clean
- Forcepoint ThreatSeeker - Clean
- Fortinet - Clean
- Fortra - Unrated
- G-Data - Clean
- GCP Abuse Intelligence - Unrated
- Google Safe Browsing - Clean
- GreenSnow - Clean
- GreyNoise - Unrated
- Gridinsoft - Unrated
- Guardpot - Unrated
- Heimdal Security - Clean
- Hunt.io Intelligence - Unrated
- IPsum - Clean
- Juniper Networks - Clean
- K7AntiVirus - Unrated
- Kaspersky - Clean
- LevelBlue - Clean
- Lionic - Clean
- Lumu - Unrated
- Malwared - Clean
- MalwarePatrol - Clean
- MalwareURL - Unrated
- Mimecast - Unrated
- Netcraft - Unrated
- OpenPhish - Clean
- Orcapot - Unrated
- PhishFort - Unrated
- Phishing Database - Clean
- Phishtank - Clean
- PREBYTES - Clean
- PrecisionSec - Unrated
- Quick Heal - Clean
- Quttera - Clean
- Rising - Clean
- SafeToOpen - Unrated
- Sangfor - Clean
- Sansec eComscan - Unrated
- Scantitan - Clean
- SCUMWARE.org - Clean
- Seclookup - Clean
- Snort IP sample list - Unrated
- SOCRadar - Unrated
- Sophos - Clean
- StopForumSpam - Clean
- Sucuri SiteCheck - Clean
- Synthient - Unrated
- ThreatHive - Clean
- URLhaus - Clean
- URLQuery - Unrated
- Viettel Threat Intelligence - Clean
- VIPRE - Clean
- ViriBack - Clean
- VX Vault - Clean
- Webroot - Clean
- Xcitium Verdict Cloud - Clean
- Yandex Safebrowsing - Clean
- ZeroCERT - Clean
- ZeroFox - Unrated
How security vendors categorise this site
- BitDefendertimewasters
- Forcepoint ThreatSeekerentertainment
- Googlemedia_and_entertainment
- Sophosentertainment
Each vendor’s own label for the site, saved with the antivirus result. Labels are separate from the engine verdicts above and can disagree with each other.
Security Scans
Checked against the browser threat feeds available to this scan — no hit.
What we observed
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Visual context from the captured page
BuzzFeed free trial?
What the captured page showed
2 observations- 01
BuzzFeed
- 02
free trial?
What the page says about itself
What the site says about itself, quoted from the pages we read. The site wrote these words; they are not our findings.
- Page title
BuzzFeed
- Meta description
BuzzFeed has breaking news, vital journalism, quizzes, videos, celeb news, Tasty food videos, recipes, DIY hacks, and all the trending buzz you’ll want to share with your friends. Copyright BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved.
Pages we read
- Main page/Read
03 · Investigation Story
Investigation story
What the site claims
BuzzFeed
What we observed
The page content was captured and checked alongside 60 antivirus results.
What independent research found
3 external findings were saved and compared with the page evidence.
What remains unverified
1 of the 4 applicable core capabilities did not complete, so those gaps remain visible in the coverage ledger.
What kind of site and risk is this?
Threat category
No threat category confirmed
Service and business model
Content
Observed behavior
Evidence behind this classification
- 01The domain is about 24 years old.
- 02Antivirus engines and Safe Browsing found no threats.
- 033 independent sources carry complaints or warnings about this site, including: "Buzzfeed would not refund our subscription fee although we never subscribed. Their representative repeatedly ... that she could not issue a refund and they…"
Web research findings
Independent findings for www.buzzfeed.com, including public complaints, named review sources, registration records, and look-alike-domain evidence. A missing result is shown as unverified, never converted into a clean bill of health.
- Trustpilotopen
"Buzzfeed would not refund our subscription fee although we never subscribed. Their representative repeatedly ... that she could not issue a refund and they have a legal team that would handle any communication from our credit card company. Complete scam!!"
- ComplaintsBoardopen
"Out of all reported cases, 0 complaints (0%) have been marked as resolved, while 12 complaints (100%) remain unresolved."
- PissedConsumeropen
"Customer complaints about billing practices and high price level."
Reputation Sources
How this domain rates across independent threat-intelligence and blocklist providers.
04 · Domain & Infrastructure
Domain & infrastructure
The plumbing behind the site — who registered it, how it’s encrypted, where it’s hosted, and where it links out. A valid certificate or a calm server doesn’t mean the business is honest — scam sites pass these checks too. Use this to corroborate the verdict, not to overturn it.
Infrastructure map
How the saved page connected to the wider web.
- Domainwww.buzzfeed.com
- Redirects towww.buzzfeed.com
- Hosted byFastly, Inc.
- Referencescdn.cookielaw.org · c.amazon-adsystem.com
Domain Timeline
- Aug 7, 2002Domain registered
First appeared in WHOIS records — 24 years old when this review was saved.
- Oct 18, 2026Saved security review — Rated Low Risk
This saved scan found no material threat, but the evidence was not strong enough for the highest Safe tier.
www.buzzfeed.com has operated for years and this review found no material threat — a long track record, though it is never a guarantee on its own.
Contact Verification
Saved contact details can help identify the operator. Their presence supports traceability; it does not prove the business is trustworthy.
Domain & Encryption
Certificate issued for *.buzzfeed.com.
A shared Fastly address answers for many sites, so it is not the site's own server and says nothing about who runs it.
Analytics and ads
- Google Ads
Scripts, fonts and CDNs
- Adobe Fonts
Payment providers the page loads
None seen among the outside domains we saved.
Read from the first 20 outside domains the page loads and the shop platform it uses; the web server and platform rows are under Hosting & Technology. A payment script on the page does not prove the shop accepts that method at checkout, or that you are protected.
Server Reputation
Referenced Domains
Outbound domains this page links to or loads resources from. Each links to its own security scan.
05 · Evidence Ledger
Evidence ledger
- Antiviruscomplete
- Browser threat feedcomplete
- Page contentpartial
- Analysiscomplete
- Visual evidencecomplete
The conclusion is supported by the evidence saved with this report.
Technical threat
unknownMalware, phishing, credential theft and hostile infrastructure.
No confirmed evidence in this dimension.
Operator / customer risk
suspiciousComplaints, withdrawals, business conduct and commercial traps.
3 independent sources carry complaints or warnings about this site, including: "Buzzfeed would not refund our subscription fee although we never subscribed. Their representative repeatedly ... that she could not issue a refund and they…" · 3 independent sources carry complaints or warnings about this site, including: "Customer complaints about billing practices and high price level."
Source coverage and freshness
Status shows whether usable evidence was saved; finding shows what that evidence observed.
| Source | Result | Completion | Finding | Freshness |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antivirus | 0 of 93 engines flagged | Completed | No adverse finding | fresh · analysed Oct 18, 2026 |
| Browser protection | No browser threat-list match | Completed | No adverse finding | this scan · Oct 18, 2026 |
| Page content | Page fetched · HTTP 200 | Limited | No saved finding | this scan · Oct 18, 2026 |
| Visual evidence | 2 visible observations saved with the page capture | Completed | No adverse finding | this scan · Oct 18, 2026 |
| Independent research | 3 independent findings were saved | Completed | Adverse | this scan · Oct 18, 2026 |
- Antivirus
- Result0 of 93 engines flagged
- CompletionCompletedFindingNo adverse finding
- Freshnessfresh · analysed Oct 18, 2026
- Browser protection
- ResultNo browser threat-list match
- CompletionCompletedFindingNo adverse finding
- Freshnessthis scan · Oct 18, 2026
- Page content
- ResultPage fetched · HTTP 200
- CompletionLimitedFindingNo saved finding
- Freshnessthis scan · Oct 18, 2026
- Visual evidence
- Result2 visible observations saved with the page capture
- CompletionCompletedFindingNo adverse finding
- Freshnessthis scan · Oct 18, 2026
- Independent research
- Result3 independent findings were saved
- CompletionCompletedFindingAdverse
- Freshnessthis scan · Oct 18, 2026
07 · Safety FAQ
Safety FAQ
Common questions, answered directly from the scan data above — so the answers reflect the saved verdict and evidence in this report.
Is www.buzzfeed.com a scam or is it safe?
Is www.buzzfeed.com safe to use?
Has www.buzzfeed.com been flagged by antivirus engines?
Is www.buzzfeed.com on any phishing or malware blacklists?
How old is the www.buzzfeed.com domain?
Does www.buzzfeed.com have a valid SSL certificate?
Where is www.buzzfeed.com hosted?
Is www.buzzfeed.com a well-known website?
How often is the www.buzzfeed.com report updated?
08 · Final Verdict
Final verdict
BuzzFeed is a long-running media site with clean security checks, but some customers report billing and refund problems
www.buzzfeed.com is the BuzzFeed entertainment and media site. Its domain is about 24 years old, and our security checks found no malware or threat warnings. We kept the score in the Low Risk band rather than Safe because complaint sites contain reports about billing and subscription refunds. These reports describe customer-service friction. They do not show that the site itself is malicious.
09 · Community
Community
Are you the owner of www.buzzfeed.com?Verify and reply