large grey X on certain websites

Hi glacierhiking,

Is your Mac managed by a school or business? If you're unsure you can check for a configuration profile with the steps below found in the guide here: Use configuration profiles to standardize settings on Mac computers - Apple Support

"View an installed configuration profile

1. On your Mac, choose Apple menu  > System Settings, click Privacy and Security  in the sidebar, then click Profiles on the right. (You may need to scroll down.)
2. Select a profile in the Profiles list to view information about it."

If this is a a managed device, contact your institutions IT department to further assist. If this is a personal device and there's no profile installed check your Safari settings with the steps here: Change Privacy settings in Safari on Mac

Additionally, you can test the issue while booted to safe mode: Use safe mode on your Mac, and test in a new user account: Add a user or group on Mac

Let us know if that helps, or if the issue continues confirm the ask regarding a managed device above and someone will continue to assist.

Best.

Hi glacierhiking,

The results of testing this behavior in safe mode and a new user account would be helpful to provide relevant suggestions or next steps. Without knowing those, you may next try the suggestions from If Safari doesn't open a page or work as expected on your Mac to see if any of those are able to address this concern.

Should the behavior persist after completing those steps, in safe mode and a test user account it may be necessary to contact the web developer of the page you're visiting to notify them of the issue and seek continued support with their site.

Regards.