If a user receives a 403 status when accessing our website or API, it means that our servers understood their request but refused it. This error can occur for a number of reasons.
In some instances, this may be due to international regulations and infrastructure policies. Our cloud infrastructure is based on Google Cloud Platform (GCP), which actively rejects any request coming to their infrastructure from IP addresses that they deem to have originated from certain countries or regions. [May, 2023]:
- Crimea
- Cuba
- the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic
- Iran
- North Korea
- Syria
Learn about this issue here:
Although you may not be based in any of these countries or regions, GCP may reject your access to their infrastructure and consequently, our website and API if they believe you are from these areas. Google has its own proprietary geolocation system based on IP addresses, which may sometimes incorrectly geolocate addresses to the countries mentioned above.
You can make a request to Google to amend their IP geolocation via this link:
We recommend that you contact our support team at support@ipinfo.io for further details on why your request was rejected.