Why do websites block certain countries?

Mostly for licensing, regulation, sanctions or fraud reasons, and sometimes because they choose not to serve or comply with rules in that market.

Is using a proxy to get around geo-blocking legal?

Using a proxy is generally legal, but bypassing geo-restrictions can breach a service's terms, and in some places other laws apply. Geo-testing your own site and viewing public regional data are common legitimate uses.

How accurate is IP geolocation?

Country is right for the large majority of IPs. City-level location is an estimate and is often off by tens of kilometres, and mobile IPs can map to a carrier hub far from the user.

What is the difference between geo-blocking and geo-targeting?

Geo-blocking is the site restricting content by location. Geo-targeting, in proxy terms, is choosing which country, region or city your proxy IP comes from.

Why does a site still think I am in my real country through a proxy?

Something else gives you away: browser location permission, time zone, language, a WebRTC or DNS leak, cookies, or your account's billing country.

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What Is Geo-Blocking?

Geo-blocking is restricting or changing what a website or app shows based on where the visitor appears to be, usually worked out from their IP address. It ranges from blocking a whole country to showing different prices, catalogues or search results by region.

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how it works

How sites decide where you are

The IP address is the main input. Geolocation databases from providers such as MaxMind, IP2Location and IPinfo map IP ranges to countries, regions and cities. Country is usually right; city is an estimate. Sites can add other signals when they need more certainty:

1
IP geolocation
How the site gets it
Database lookup on every request
How precise
Country reliable, city approximate
2
Browser location
How the site gets it
Geolocation API, only with your permission
How precise
Street level (GPS or Wi-Fi)
3
Time zone and language
How the site gets it
JavaScript and request headers
How precise
Region hints
4
Payment or account details
How the site gets it
Billing address, card country, phone number
How precise
Country, verified

why it matters

Why sites geo-block

Geo-blocking is mostly about legal and commercial boundaries, not about you.

Geo-blocking: what it means for you

Licensing: streaming and sports rights are sold country by country.
Regulation: gambling, finance and health services are licensed per market; some sites block regions rather than comply with local privacy rules.
Sanctions: services must refuse sanctioned countries.
Pricing and stock: shops show regional prices, currencies and catalogues.
Security: some sites block regions they see little legitimate traffic from.

how it works

How proxies are used with geo-blocking

A proxy in another country makes requests appear to come from there, which is how companies check their own localised sites, verify ads in each market, collect regional prices and see local search results. Pick a proxy in the exact market, and align time zone and language with it. Getting around licensing restrictions can break a service's terms, so keep to geo-testing, public data and your own content.

CleanProxies rotating residential proxies cover 190+ countries with state and city targeting; static ISP proxies are US carrier IPs plus Telus in Canada. See geo-targeting for how to choose a location.

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Rotating or sticky residential IPs in 190+ countries, with data that never expires.

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Residential IPs in 190+ countries with country, state and city targeting. Rotate on every request or hold a sticky session for up to 24 hours; GB never expire.

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