When a website fails in one country or network, first identify the failure layer. It may be DNS, connectivity, TLS, a CDN rule, application policy or external blocking. Moving the origin to an offshore server does not guarantee restored access, and a single failed request is not enough to establish censorship.
Collect a comparable observation
Record the exact hostname, time, region, network, resolver and browser error or HTTP status. Compare an authorized test from an affected network with one from an unaffected network. Avoid collecting personal data unnecessarily or asking a person to perform tests that could create local legal or safety risks.
Distinguish the failure layers
- DNS: does the expected name resolve, and do different resolvers return materially different answers?
- Connection: can the client reach the intended address and port?
- TLS: is the certificate valid for the hostname, and does the handshake complete?
- HTTP: is there a block page or status produced by your CDN, host or application?
- Application: do login, payment or licensing rules intentionally restrict a region?
OONI's Web Connectivity methodology compares DNS, TCP/IP and HTTP behavior and explains measurement limitations. An anomaly is evidence to investigate, not an automatic definitive conclusion about who blocked the site.
Repair controls you own first
Review recent DNS, WAF, geo-access and deployment changes. Compare request identifiers and timestamps with CDN or application logs. If your own rule blocks legitimate traffic, make a bounded correction and test it without removing unrelated protection.
If evidence points outside your systems, provide the observations to the appropriate network or service operator. A new origin address may leave domain-, TLS- or policy-based restrictions unchanged. Do not promise that encryption, a CDN or a country choice defeats all blocking.
Plan any migration separately
Assess contractual and legal requirements before changing service location or republishing restricted material. Use a tested migration and rollback plan rather than a universal 24–72-hour promise. For broader publication continuity, distinguish this diagnosis from account recovery, complaint handling and backup planning.
WebCare360 publishes this guide as a hosting provider. It does not guarantee access from every country or offer legal advice about regional restrictions. Keep unresolved network and legal questions explicit before purchasing replacement infrastructure.
