"You've been blocked by network security" is Reddit refusing one request. Sometimes the fault sits with Reddit: on February 11, 2026, logged-in users on Chrome, Firefox, Brave, Edge and Opera saw it for hours. More often it points at your side, such as a VPN or a shared address, a logged-out session, an old browser, or a program that asks too fast.
The fixes run from a refresh to a login to another network. For programs, Reddit's route is its Data API with OAuth, and its terms forbid scraping without consent. This page draws on Reddit's own help pages and terms, a news report, a network operators' mailing list and a downloader's bug report.
What the message says
Reddit shows it in two forms.
- The full page. A gallery-dl user quoted it in December 2025: "You've been blocked by network security. If you think you've been blocked by mistake, file a ticket below and we'll look into it." A "File a ticket" link follows.
- The banner on posts. During the February 2026 incident, a red banner said the request "had been blocked by network security" and asked readers to log in with their Reddit account, as PiunikaWeb reported.
Reddit itself has published no explanation. A search of its help center for the phrase on October 22, 2026 returned eight articles, and none of them covers this message.
When it hits everyone at once
The block comes in waves, and the searches for it show them.
- reddit blocked by network security
- you've been blocked by network security reddit
February 2026 was the biggest wave. On February 11, PiunikaWeb reported the banner on post pages for users on Chrome, Firefox, Brave, Edge and Opera, on desktop and mobile, from India, the UK and the US. Comments would not load until a manual refresh, and each refresh helped for one post only. Everyone affected was logged in.
A Reddit admin then wrote: "We're starting to see this error clear up, but we're continuing to monitor the issue!" The same report recalls that Firefox users met the message in August 2025, and that it went away on its own then too.
So when Reddit blocks you on every network and in every browser at once, while you are logged in, the fault is probably Reddit's. Refresh, then wait.
What the block looks at the rest of the time
Reddit does not say. The reports and Reddit's own pages point at four things.
The address. In April 2024, AdGuard VPN tested Reddit through NordVPN and ExpressVPN. Logged out, the site refused to load whatever the server location; logged in, it worked with the VPN or without it. In March 2025, a network operator told the NANOG mailing list that "several (presumably all)" of its network blocks were getting the page. A ticket with Reddit's support had brought "no useful replies". Reddit's own Contributor Quality Score, which rates every account, draws on "network and location signals".
Address data of this kind is public. Our own IP lookup files the proxy address that PIA, a VPN, prints in its help center as datacenter or hosting, on the network AS43350.
The login. The banner itself asks for one, and in AdGuard VPN's test only the logged-in visits passed through a VPN.
The browser. Reddit supports Chrome and Edge from version 116, Firefox from 117 and Safari from 15. Some guides blame ad blockers. During the February incident, though, PiunikaWeb found reports from users with blocking tools and without them.
The pace of a program. A gallery-dl user met the page after the tool skipped many files in quick succession. The project's maintainer suggested 4 to 6 seconds between requests in place of the default 0.6. Another user found that Reddit's user pages refused a script after a couple of requests without a User-Agent header. Reddit's Data API wiki says the same in its own words: "Many default User-Agents (like 'Python/urllib' or 'Java') are drastically limited", and "Traffic not using OAuth or login credentials will be blocked".
| What you notice | What it points to | Where that comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Every network and browser, while logged in | A Reddit-side incident | PiunikaWeb, February 2026 |
| Only with a VPN on, while logged out | The address and the logged-out session | AdGuard VPN's test, 2024 |
| Every device of one office or provider | The network's addresses | NANOG mailing list, 2025 |
| Only in one program or script | Pace, user agent or missing OAuth | gallery-dl issue #8641; Reddit's Data API wiki |
| Only in one browser | Its version or its extensions | Reddit's supported browsers; Firefox, August 2025 |
Fixes, in order
- Refresh once. During the February incident, a refresh brought the comments back, one post at a time. If the block shows up everywhere at once, wait for Reddit.
- Log in. The banner asks for it. In AdGuard VPN's test, only logged-in visits got through a VPN.
- Turn off the VPN or proxy, or switch networks. Try mobile data in place of Wi-Fi. If Reddit loads there, the address was the trigger. A proxy you never set up yourself is covered in how to turn off a proxy.
- Use a clean, current browser. Open a private window without extensions, clear the cookies for reddit.com, and check the version against Reddit's list.
- On Tor, use Reddit's onion address. Reddit's help center lists it among the supported browsers.
- File the ticket. The block page links to it. Say when the block started, which network you were on, and whether you were logged in. The NANOG operator's thread shows that an answer can take a while.
If a program meets the block
Reddit gives programs one route, its Data API, and the wiki spells out the rules.
- A registered OAuth token. "Clients must authenticate with a registered OAuth token. We can and will freely throttle or block unidentified Data API users." Access is by request, through a form linked from the wiki.
- An honest User-Agent. The format Reddit asks for is
<platform>:<app ID>:<version string> (by /u/<reddit username>), and the wiki adds: "NEVER lie about your User-Agent." - A rate limit. Free access allows "100 queries per minute (QPM) per OAuth client id", averaged over 10 minutes. The headers X-Ratelimit-Used, X-Ratelimit-Remaining and X-Ratelimit-Reset show where you stand.
- No scraping without consent. Reddit's User Agreement, in force since July 1, 2026, says "scraping the Services without Reddit's prior written consent is prohibited".
A program that meets the block needs an approved app and a token. A different address leaves both of those rules exactly where they were.
Where a proxy fits
A proxy is the wrong tool for this block. It cannot end a Reddit-side incident, and it cannot stand in for the login the banner asks for. For a program, Reddit's terms rule out scraping without consent from any address. Reddit's Rule 2 also asks people to "Participate authentically in communities where you have a personal interest".
We sell residential proxies, and we do not offer them as a way around Reddit's block. Our guide to how websites detect proxies explains the address side of checks like this one, and free proxies for Reddit covers public proxy lists on Reddit. For other work, where a proxy is allowed, our residential and ISP proxies are on the pricing page. Two related errors have their own guides: anonymous proxy detected and a website saying VPN or proxy detected.
What this page could not check
- We could not read reddit.com itself, because its robots.txt shuts out our reader. The wording of the block comes from people who quoted it.
- We did not trigger the block, test a VPN or a proxy against Reddit, or call its API.
- Reddit has published no explanation of the block. The causes above come from reports and from Reddit's pages on programs and account ratings.
- Keyword Planner rounds its monthly figures.
- We will check this page again by December 22, 2026.
Sources
- Reddit Help, Reddit Data API Wiki, updated October 17, 2026; What is the Contributor Quality Score?, updated October 22, 2026; Reddit supported browsers, updated October 19, 2026. Read on October 22, 2026, with a search of the help center for the message.
- Reddit, User Agreement, effective July 1, 2026, and Reddit Rules, read October 22, 2026.
- PiunikaWeb, Reddit users report "blocked by network security" error as comments fail to load without refresh, February 11, 2026.
- gallery-dl, issue #8641, "You've been blocked by network security", December 3, 2025 to April 4, 2026.
- NANOG mailing list, Blocked by Reddit, March 17, 2025.
- AdGuard VPN, blog post on Reddit blocking logged-out VPN users, April 9, 2024.
- Google Keyword Planner, monthly searches worldwide in English, October 2025 to September 2026, read October 22, 2026.
- HProxy, our IP lookup of the proxy address in PIA's help center, October 22, 2026.
