Google Chrome temporarily blocks Twitpic over malware threat

Google has blocked millions of Twitter accounts, saying that the micro blogging site's picture sharing service, Twitpic, is a 'malicious threat' to computers.

The Internet search giant blocked access to Twitpic and any photos hosted by it from its popular browser Chrome as well as from search results in other browsers, rendering millions of Twitter accounts inaccessible for several hours.

Web users trying to view content on Twitpic, or even Twitpic's own Twitter account, instead got a grim message from Google, News.com.au reports.

"Content from Twitpic.com, a known malware distributor, has been inserted into this web page. Visiting this page now is very likely to infect your computer with malware," the notice said.

According to the report, Twitpic, which has over 35 million users, tweeted the problem had been resolved.

The report said that it is unclear whether Twitpic posed a legitimate security threat to users, or if the block resulted from a glitch in Google's malware detector.