Website blockages in France are no longer limited to classic geographical restrictions or corporate filtering. Since the National Gaming Authority (ANJ) ordered the blocking of access to Polymarket in July 2026, a new doctrine applies: the mere visibility of a site can justify its blockage, even without active financial transactions. This logic of prohibited advertising equating to access blockage changes the game for anyone trying to circumvent restrictions.
Blocking by prohibited advertising: the ANJ doctrine and its technical implications
Unblocking guides almost always address the same scenario: an ISP blocks an IP address or a domain name by court order, and the user changes their DNS resolver or activates a VPN. The blockage of Polymarket is based on a different legal reasoning. The ANJ considers that making a site accessible from French territory amounts to advertising it, which is enough to trigger a blocking injunction against access providers.
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In practice, this means that the blockage combines several layers: DNS filtering at the ISP level, partial traffic inspection, and potentially measures targeting technical intermediaries like Cloudflare. We are already seeing this pattern in the blocking of illegal sports streaming sites, where Google and Cloudflare are now at the forefront.
For those looking to understand how to use xabriv.com on Geek Network, the mechanics are similar: a site disappears overnight because the DNS resolution infrastructure has been modified on the operator’s side, not because the origin server is offline.
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The direct consequence: a simple DNS change is no longer always sufficient. When the blockage applies at multiple levels of the network chain, approaches must be combined.
Encrypted DNS resolvers and DoH protocol: bypassing network filtering
Changing your DNS remains the first reflex, but the method has evolved. Replacing your ISP’s DNS with those of a third party (Quad9, Cloudflare 1.1.1.1) works against a simple DNS blockage. When the ISP intercepts clear DNS requests on port 53 to redirect them, this approach fails.
The DNS over HTTPS (DoH) protocol encrypts DNS requests in standard HTTPS traffic, making them indistinguishable from the rest of the browsing. Firefox and Chrome natively integrate DoH support in their browsing settings.
Enabling DoH in browser settings
- On Chrome, go to security settings, then enable the “Use secure DNS” option by selecting a provider like Cloudflare or Google.
- On Firefox, the configuration is found in network settings: check “Enable DNS over HTTPS” and choose a compatible resolver.
- On recent Android devices, the “Private DNS” setting in connection settings allows you to specify a DoT (DNS over TLS) resolver, which offers equivalent protection.
We recommend testing access to the targeted site after enabling DoH before considering heavier solutions. In the majority of simple DNS blockage cases, this single modification restores access.
VPN and traffic segmentation: choosing the right tunneling protocol
When the blockage exceeds DNS filtering, a VPN remains the most reliable method. Not all VPN protocols are equal against current detection techniques. The WireGuard protocol, being lighter, is also easier to identify by Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) systems than protocols that disguise VPN traffic as standard HTTPS traffic.
OpenVPN configured on port 443 (the one for HTTPS) goes unnoticed in most network configurations. Some providers offer proprietary protocols designed to withstand DPI, such as “obfuscation” mode or Shadowsocks-based tunnels.
Criteria for selecting a VPN for unblocking
The number of servers or monthly price matters little in this context. What counts: the availability of protocols resistant to packet inspection, the ability to manually choose the connection port, and the absence of connection logs verified by independent audit.
A point often overlooked: some sites detect the IP address ranges known to public VPN providers and block them in turn. In this case, a rotating residential IP or a dedicated server offers better results than a standard VPN subscription.
Tor Browser and network alternatives: when the VPN is not enough
Tor routes traffic through three successive relays, making tracing the origin practically impossible. This architecture makes it effective against multi-layer blockages, but at the cost of significant latency that degrades the experience on content-heavy sites.
The Tor browser includes “bridges” (unlisted entry points) for situations where access to the Tor network itself is blocked. Activating these bridges is done directly in the browser’s connection settings, without system configuration.
A lesser-known alternative: web archives like the Wayback Machine allow you to view previous versions of a blocked site, provided the content sought is not dynamic. For static information pages, it’s a quick solution that requires no additional tools.
Legal framework in France: what the NIS 2 directive changes for users
The transposition of the European NIS 2 directive, scheduled for September 2026 in France, expands cybersecurity obligations to technical intermediaries. Concretely, hosting providers and DNS service providers will need to strengthen their protection measures, which could complicate the use of non-compliant third-party DNS resolvers.
Unblocking a site is not illegal in itself. Accessing content whose consultation is prohibited by French law is. The distinction lies in the targeted content, not in the method used. Using a VPN or Tor to access a mistakenly blocked information site poses no legal issue. Doing so to access an illegal betting platform exposes one to sanctions.
The regulatory trend points towards strengthening blockages at the infrastructure level. Circumvention techniques are evolving in parallel, but the balance of power is gradually shifting towards methods requiring more technical mastery than a simple DNS change.