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Saudi Arabia blocked blahaj.zone (lemm.ee)

submitted 10 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) by fxomt@lemm.ee to c/mildlyinfuriating@lemmy.world

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A couple of days ago i noticed something off with blahaj.zone. I couldn't see images posted by users on blahaj, so i thought it was a problem on their side.

Well guess fucking what? After 3 days, it was STILL broken, so i opened it and...

Blocked. They fucking blocked blahaj.zone. Actually beyond parody🤦‍♂️ Why? What was the point? there's trans content literally everywhere on lemmy. what's next, block them all? So now if i want to see a post by a user on blahaj, i have to turn on my VPN (protonvpn.com is also blocked in saudi, jfc) just to see it. Fuck this place. 🙄

I swear a couple of days ago it worked. This is a mild annoyance (hence the community) but still.

It's so over guys, MBS said no more 196 😔

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[-] FundMECFSResearch@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 32 minutes ago

Is it weird this makes me proud to be a blahaj user?

Like when a transphobic government starts hating, you know you’re doing something right.

[-] fxomt@lemm.ee 3 points 21 minutes ago

I guess MBS didn't like 196 😔

[-] FundMECFSResearch@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 19 minutes ago* (last edited 18 minutes ago)

Dude was like

“Small community of queer people. Not on my watch”

[-] fxomt@lemm.ee 1 points 9 minutes ago

Ngl, I can actually imagine saying that. Not doing that of course, because he already did so 😂

[-] Revan343@lemmy.ca 17 points 2 hours ago

If I were in Saudi Arabia I'd be using a VPN anyways.

Also, if I were in Saudi Arabia, I'd be trying to leave Saudi Arabia

[-] fxomt@lemm.ee 9 points 2 hours ago

Easier said than done. At least, for the second one.

[-] Kalcifer@sh.itjust.works 5 points 56 minutes ago

What are the obstacles in the way of leaving?

[-] fxomt@lemm.ee 4 points 38 minutes ago

Getting citizenship is hard, (even asylum is turned down often). You need a stable job in that country, and above average skills to prove your worth. If not, you'll be deported back.

You also need to stay in that country for [upto] 10 years.

And you have to leave everything behind, your culture, your family, and your friends. It would be too dangerous to go back. And they might not even accept you, immigration is brutal.

Even after you become a citizen, many people will never truly accept you as your own, and see you as an immigrant, never as a citizen.

And Saudi Arabia is well known to harass, spy on, and even kill dissidents. There was a scandal with twitter, where the Sauds bought up large amounts of stocks, then ordered 3,000 Saudi dissident's private info. Even in other countries you aren't safe.

And money. You need money. A shit ton of it.

[-] roguetrick@lemmy.world 2 points 37 minutes ago

Who's giving you asylum exactly for "I'm from Saudi Arabia"? A refugee camp in North Africa if you're lucky?

[-] fxomt@lemm.ee 3 points 32 minutes ago* (last edited 21 minutes ago)

Believe it or not, it's possible. If you're gay, trans, atheist or a whistleblower you are eligible for asylum. But you're right that just being born in Saudi isn't a free ticket to Berlin.

[-] Sunshine@lemmy.ca 30 points 4 hours ago

Hey at least Lemmy is becoming popular enough for the authorities to block us.

[-] fxomt@lemm.ee 14 points 3 hours ago

Can't have shit in Saudi, not even Lemmy 😤

[-] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 4 points 3 hours ago

KSA and China are like low hanging fruit, it doesn't take much to get blocked there....

Wake me up when OECD countries start blocking us

[-] mlg@lemmy.world 21 points 4 hours ago

Lol I'd tread a bit carefully.

KSA likes to chase people and have them "disappeared" for their opinions.

I know a guy they picked up for 3 months and when he finally showed up, his poor mouth was zippered shut.

And he was an international too.

I'd look around for a solid VPN solution anyway. Useful to have in any country.

[-] fxomt@lemm.ee 11 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

That's what i'm afraid of, too. Doing such risky things in the middle of the den of snakes. There isn't much they can do to a visitors like your friend, but they can do what they please to "threats" and dissidents like me.

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[-] FartsWithAnAccent@lemmy.world 13 points 4 hours ago

Just click there and tell them it shouldn't be blocked.

I am sure they'll listen!

[-] fxomt@lemm.ee 15 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

That shit'll get me on a watchlist, trying to access a website for trans people 😂

But if i ask nicely...

[-] FartsWithAnAccent@lemmy.world 6 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

I was joking but, maybe go find the worst bigot you know, and do it from their computer?

[-] fxomt@lemm.ee 7 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

You underestimate how bigoted the average Gulf Arab is, I'd need to do it to everyone 😅

The average gulf Arab is a competitive racist. Especially with Jews 😂

[-] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 18 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

Well its Saudi Arabia after all. It isn't exactly known for being all that high on the freedom index. I'm sure you realize that though.

From a technical level there are ways to bypass censorship. The thing to keep in mind is that Saudi Arabia doesn't have any rights for citizens. The law can be enforced arbitrarily and you could just disappear one day. If you are looking for technical information on avoiding censorship I can try to help.

[-] fxomt@lemm.ee 11 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

Yeah, but it's a little weird how they'd go out of their way to ban such a small and obscure website. I didn't even know the feds knew about lemmy. Besides, it's been fine for a long time for me.

But this was bound to happen eventually, i guess :/

The thing to keep in mind is that Saudi Arabia doesn't have any rights for citizens. The law can be enforced arbitrarily and you could just disappear one day

I am well aware of that :( Hopefully i can disappear out of here before they make me.

[-] Jarix@lemmy.world 3 points 1 hour ago

I didn't even know the feds knew about lemmy.

Probably just an automated list of blocking then. At least I would assume theres block lists floating around at those levels

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[-] someguy3@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago

Change the title from "they" to "Saudi Arabia".

[-] fxomt@lemm.ee 1 points 2 hours ago

Done

[-] mp3@lemmy.ca 25 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

Use Tor if you can, and people outside of these restrictive countries can help by running Snowflake in their regular browser.

[-] Sunshine@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 hour ago

That’s a great recommendation, it’s always important to practice bypassing potential censorship as you do not always know what is being hidden from the public.

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[-] Bezier@suppo.fi 35 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

geoblocked

"Geoblocking" would mean that it's blahaj who don't want saudis on their instance

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[-] ech@lemm.ee 9 points 6 hours ago

Do I misunderstand how federation works, or should a block like that not do anything unless your home instance is hosted in that particular country? The instances communicate with each other, not directly with the users. It's similar to viewing blocked content through a VPN.

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this post was submitted on 10 Jan 2025

349 points (97.0% liked)

Mildly Infuriating

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