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Unblock DW, whichever language you read it in

DW is Germany’s international public broadcaster, and it publishes in more than 30 languages. When it will not open, the block sits on the network in front of you rather than on DW’s side. TrickyBird opens it from a browser tab: paste the address of the edition you read, press Launch, and it loads in the same tab through TrickyBird’s own address, with nothing to install and no account to create.

A content filter rarely has anything against DW itself. It sorts the web into categories, and news is one a network can switch off in a single setting, which is how a site nobody objected to disappears with the rest of its category. In mainland China the block is national rather than a per-network setting: GreatFire has recorded interference with dw.com since 28 June 2015, and its most recent test, on 30 January 2026, found the site blocked.

The reason to reach DW is usually that it covers your language, so that is what we checked first: the Spanish edition came through the proxy the same way the English one did, pictures and all, and a search brought back real results. We read both on a desktop.

DW in our own tests

The edition you read comes through, not only the English one: we opened Spanish next to English and both render the same way, pictures included, and search brings back real results. We read them on a desktop on 2 August 2026.

Last checked 2026-08-01

The address here is TrickyBird’s own, never the address of the site you opened

The site loads in the tab, but its address stays out of your URL bar and off the page you see.

How does TrickyBird open DW?

TrickyBird fetches DW for you and rewrites the page before it reaches you, so every headline, thumbnail, and background request points back through TrickyBird’s address. A small script stays in the tab for what loads next, when you open an article or run a search. DW’s name stays out of your URL bar, off the page, and out of the requests your browser sends.

Search is where a careless proxy shows itself. A search page is a query string, and its results are links back into the site, so if either one gets mangled the page comes back empty. In our own checks DW’s search returns a full page of results with their thumbnails, and each one opens into the article behind it.

On a network that really filters DW, one request going direct is enough to leave the page half-built. Everything this one needs comes through TrickyBird instead, so there is nothing left for the filter to refuse.

Does DW open in your language?

DW publishes in more than 30 languages, and somebody blocked from it is usually reaching for their own edition rather than the English one. We opened the Spanish edition through TrickyBird alongside the English one, and it renders the same way. Each edition sits at its own address, so you paste the one you read.

The rest of the site behaves the same, and articles arrive with their photographs rather than empty frames. Whatever DW shows a reader who is not signed in is what you get. The other news sites our tests cover have pages of their own: BBC, The Guardian, and Al Jazeera.

Nothing installs on your side, and TrickyBird has no sign-up, so a locked-down office machine that refuses new software still opens the site the way it opens any other page. TrickyBird is a web proxy rather than a VPN: 1 site, inside the tab you are already looking at, with no software added to the machine. It is for reaching a public site your network blocks, and for keeping your IP address away from that site. It is not a way past paywalls or copyright.

Is your DW reading private through TrickyBird?

Your IP address stops at TrickyBird: what reaches DW is the proxy’s address. And with dw.com absent from the URL, from the page, and from the requests your browser sends, the network you are on sees a connection to TrickyBird and nothing more specific.

On our side, the edge keeps a short access log to run the service and stop abuse: a shortened form of your IP address, the hostname of the site you connected to, and basic response details, kept for at most 48 hours. Which articles you opened is not recorded, and there is no TrickyBird account for any of it to attach to. Our privacy page has the full picture.

Questions

Does DW open in languages other than English?

Yes. DW publishes in more than 30 languages, and each edition sits at its own address, so you paste the one you read. We checked the Spanish edition through TrickyBird next to the English one and it renders the same way. That is the case that matters, since the reason somebody looks for DW is often that it covers their language.

Does DW search work through TrickyBird?

Yes. Search is a query string plus a page of links back into the site, and both are easy for a proxy to mangle. Through TrickyBird DW’s search comes back with a full page of results and their thumbnails, and each one opens into the article behind it, the same as on a direct visit.

Do I need a DW account to read?

No. DW is free to read, so whatever it shows a reader who is not signed in is what arrives through TrickyBird. Reading needs no account on DW’s side, and TrickyBird has no sign-up of its own, so nothing in the flow asks you for an email or a password.

Is DW blocked in mainland China?

Yes. GreatFire has recorded interference with dw.com in mainland China since 28 June 2015, and its most recent test, on 30 January 2026, found the site blocked. Those tests are country-level rather than a reading of one network, so changing Wi-Fi inside the country does not clear it.

Can you open DW on a work laptop you cannot install software on?

Yes. TrickyBird is a page, not a program, so you open it in the browser the laptop already has and nothing asks for an admin password. The standard advice when a site is blocked is to install a VPN app, and on a managed device that install is the step that fails.

Is opening DW through TrickyBird legal?

This is general information, not legal advice. Reaching a public news site is usually a question of your network’s or your employer’s rules rather than the law, and those rules differ by place. Mainland China, where DW is blocked nationally, is a different situation from a filter at the office. Check the policy you are under, and do not use TrickyBird for piracy or to get past paywalls.

Other sites people unblock

Open DW now

Paste the link or press the button. The site opens in this tab, no download and no account.