I’ve used uBlock for Safari for many years to block ads, popups, and trackers on my Mac. In fact, I’ve also installed uBlock for Chrome and Firefox for both Mac and Windows. I recall noticing a reduction in ads and popup windows upon installation, and that has been my new baseline browsing experience for quite a while.
Recently I was trying to visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Public Health Information Network Vocabulary Access and Distribution System (PHIN VADS) website at https://phinvads.cdc.gov/. Strangely, I was able to visit PHIN VADS on every browser except for Safari on my Mac, where I would receive the following error message:
When trying to troubleshoot, I attempted some of the tips in the If you can’t open a website in Safari on Mac Apple Support page. This included the last suggestion to click and hold the Reload button, then choose Reload Without Content Blockers (also pictured above). However, I was still unable to visit PHIN VADS using Safari. Since the CDC is a federal agency, it is highly unlikely that there would be any nefarious content on the website that would warrant blocking it entirely.
It wasn’t until I disabled the uBlock extension entirely that Safari would let me visit the PHIN VADS website. I then verified that I could re-enable the uBlock extension and simply click “Allow ads on this site” while on PHIN VADS to whitelist the site. So it seems that uBlock not only blocks ads, popups, and trackers, in some cases it entirely prevents visitation of certain websites. Furthermore, reloading a page in Safari without content blockers fails to bypass uBlock. I’m not sure why uBlock is so overprotective in some cases, but if you use it, just remember to try whitelisting a website if it fails to load.
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