Tobaccoreview Not Accessible From Outside the US?

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timelord

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 30, 2017
958
1,907
Gallifrey
I'm in Brazil; I could understand blocking access to tobacco sales because I cannot legally import tobacco via post (it's OK when I'm travelling...) but why block access to reviews?
 

sardonicus87

Lifer
Jun 28, 2022
1,667
15,517
38
Lower Alabama
I'm in Brazil; I could understand blocking access to tobacco sales because I cannot legally import tobacco via post (it's OK when I'm travelling...) but why block access to reviews?
Because there's also regulations on advertising and promotion surrounding tobacco products, and it could be questionable whether a review site itself constitutes "promotion of tobacco use", even if they don't have ads for tobacco products.
 
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ziv

Can't Leave
Sep 19, 2024
489
3,061
South Florida
Because there's also regulations on advertising and promotion surrounding tobacco products, and it could be questionable whether a review site itself constitutes "promotion of tobacco use", even if they don't have ads for tobacco products.
They actually have links to online shops in every review (where that blend could be bought), so that might also be part of it.
 
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Gabes

Lurker
Jan 9, 2019
28
61
Perplexity Ai has US-based servers, so it can fetch reviews from otherwise inaccessible tobaccoreviews. I can't say tobaccoreviews.com provided best reviews, but those were good enough to determine if some blend was worth trying yourself.
 
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timelord

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 30, 2017
958
1,907
Gallifrey
T
Because there's also regulations on advertising and promotion surrounding tobacco products, and it could be questionable whether a review site itself constitutes "promotion of tobacco use", even if they don't have ads for tobacco products.
The only restrictions here are on buying and importing tobacco products from overseas. We don't have restrictions on displaying tobacco products and advertising materials at point of sale, and tobacco products are on open display in retailers. So whilst I accept that some countries (e.g. my old home Australia) hide these products behind cupboard doors and pretend they don't exist that is not the case in Brazil where it is very easy to buy a limited range of pipe tobaccos in shops and street kiosks.
 

timelord

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 30, 2017
958
1,907
Gallifrey
They actually have links to online shops in every review (where that blend could be bought), so that might also be part of it.
I can understand the sites that sell tobacco not selling to overseas customers; but blocking a review site because it contains links to third parties that do the selling is bonkers.
 

olkofri

Lifer
Sep 9, 2017
8,261
15,131
The Arm of Orion
With all the censorship going boom left and right, stuff like this is not only not surprising but expected. I was over at a news site and some videos were "unavailable to your location". With some countries going bonkers and threatening to go after everyone who says X or Y even if they're not nationals of said country or even live there, I find it reasonable that owners of sites are turning protectionistic in order to avoid legal entanglements. Expect more of this going forward: frankly, tobacco content being blocked is the least of your worries henceforth.

Yes, you can use a VPN (I'm using one and coulda switched to a US server to watch those videos, but why bother?) but it's not a panacea. If they want to know where you're accessing from and who you are, they still can. Some sites also do blanket blocking of VPN-users.
 

Gabes

Lurker
Jan 9, 2019
28
61
With all the censorship going boom left and right, stuff like this is not only not surprising but expected. I was over at a news site and some videos were "unavailable to your location". With some countries going bonkers and threatening to go after everyone who says X or Y even if they're not nationals of said country or even live there, I find it reasonable that owners of sites are turning protectionistic in order to avoid legal entanglements. Expect more of this going forward: frankly, tobacco content being blocked is the least of your worries hereon.

Yes, you can use a VPN (I'm using one and coulda switched to a US server to watch those videos, but why bother?) but it's not a panacea. If they want to know where you're accessing from and who you are, they still can. Some sites also do blanket blocking of VPN-users.
Grim times, indeed. And it is getting worse every year.
 
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