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How do I Stop Browser Redirects from Happening for Good?

I'm having an issue where the Kia website automatically redirects me to the Panamanian version of the site.

 

I've also had issues in the past with match.com redirecting to the UK version of that site and HBOMax redirecting to the Polish version of that site. 

 

In the latter cases, both of the issues went away after browser updates.

 

However, this is happening again, this time with Kia (and the Jeep website was asking me if I wanted to go to the Panamanian version of that site but allowed me to go to the US version).

 


How do I stop this for good? 

 

I am in the US. I use Express VPN but that's always usually set to a US location  and I've used it without issues before the past few months.

 

This issue also seems to be happening on all my browsers (Opera, Firefox, etc.) and not just on Chrome.

 

I've tried clearing my cache and cookies and that hasn't fixed it nor has uninstalling Express VPN when I tried that in the past.

 

I've also ran malware/virus scans with Windows Defender and no viruses or anything like that has shown up through that.

 

How on Earth do I stop this?!

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Could try using noscript to disable javascript. But it's likely based on your IP... So if you use a VPN... Expect to be sent away. Though I'm surprised it still sends you away even with a US server

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Check what whatismyip says about your location, see if that matches what the website sends you to.

So try not to use the VPN, and maybe clear all cookies from those website before trying to use them again since they'll likely store the location for next time you visit.

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24 minutes ago, Kilrah said:

Check what whatismyip says about your location, see if that matches what the website sends you to.

So try not to use the VPN, and maybe clear all cookies from those website before trying to use them again since they'll likely store the location for next time you visit.

Whatismyip says my location is where I'm actually at - Iowa, USA

 

Issue still happens even if my VPN is off

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It is hard to pinpoint exactly why and how this happens because there are multiple ways a web developer might implement this.

Some implements it by using the browser's "accept-language" flag. You can see which languages your browser presents using this website. For example mine says English at quality 1 and Swedish at quality 0.9. This means that if the web developer has implemented redirects based on this, it will primarily direct me to an English language website, and use a Swedish language website as a backup. A higher quality number is prefered.

 

The browser's accept-language header is configured by the browser. In Chrome, it is configured under the advanced section under "Language and Input Settings" (LINK). The higher something is in the list, the higher the quality setting will be.

 

 

I am not a web developer so I don't know how common this is, but another method I can think of would be to use anycast or DNS to redirect traffic based on region. If this is the case, then changing your DNS to one hosted in the country you want to appear in might help. For example don't use a DNS hosted in the US if you are on Polen and want to visit polish websites. In fact, this is just good advice in general since accessing far away DNSes might make the initial connection to a website needlessly slow.

 

 

The third method I can think of is probably the most common one. Looking up the IP address, matching it against a region, and then redirecting based on that. If this is how websites handle this, and I suspect they do, then you are kind of screwed. 

Chrome has a feature for blocking redirects (can be found HERE) but I doubt it actually works. You might just have to block all JavaScript to deal with this, but chances are that will break way more than it fixes.

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Switch to Brave

Been to some less than reputable sites with lots of pop-ups using it and I haven't seen one since I started using it

 

That and I think Chrome has a way to disable scripts in the settings

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