Sometimes when you’re trying to watch a video on a streaming service, like Netflix or Hulu, you might find the video isn’t available in your country. This is called geo-blocking and while it can be annoying, there’s a way around it.
Streaming services aren’t the only places you might run into geo-blocked content. A few examples of geo-blocking include online stores restricting sales to certain regions and state governments blocking access to services like WhatsApp or Twitter.
Here’s how geo-blocking works and what you can do to get around these restrictions.
What is geo-blocking?
“Geoblocking restricts access to online content based on the user’s geographical location,” said Peter Yu, the director of Texas A&M University’s Center for Law and Property.
You can think of geo-blocking in terms of school districts. If you live within a certain community you can send your child to particular schools and have access to that district’s resources. When online content is geo-blocked, you can access content specific to your “school district” but not others.