Website redirects to local region whilst connected via AirVPN

[marsuniverse 0]

I was browsing PC Gamer and noticed it redirected to a local region even though I'm connected to an AirVPN server. I'm currently connected via Eddie for Windows using the Wireguard protocol, but the site still manages to detect my local region and redirects there. This is despite connecting to different servers via Eddie.
Ipleak doesn't show any anomalies, different browsers result in the same accurate redirect (Chrome, Brave, Firefox). Clearing cache and cookies, changing system time and region, and browsing via Incognito mode doesn't seem to make a difference.
How is this possible, and what can I do about it?

Edit: It seems navigating via a Tor instance has managed to mask my actual region. Still sifting through the site source to figure out how it's doing the region redirect. There appears to be some load balancing involved and the session cookie assigns the region, but I haven't figured out how it's determining location when connected to a VPN yet.

Edited ... by marsuniverse

[OpenSourcerer 1359]

WebRTC and HTML5 geolocation are disabled?

[marsuniverse 0]

Yes, WebRTC is set to public only and verified with browserleaks tests, and HTML5 geolocation is also disabled.

[OpenSourcerer 1359]

9 hours ago, marsuniverse said:

Yes, WebRTC is set to public only

Can you try disabling it completely?

[marsuniverse 0]

I've set the WebRTC component to Disable non-proxied UDP as per Github documentation - WebRTC settings. There doesn't appear to be an option to disable it completely.

[OpenSourcerer 1359]

Well, to be perfectly honest, you were mum on what browser you use exactly.
But if you use Firefox and disable it via about:config (key media.peerconnection.enabled), does it still redirect you? If yes, the problem is somewhere else.

[marsuniverse 0]

For browsers I tested three different ones as mentioned in the OP:  

Quote

different browsers result in the same accurate redirect (Chrome, Brave, Firefox)

Chrome and Brave are standard and updated to the latest versions. Firefox is ESR and I've since enabled the privacy.resistFingerprinting flag which seems to have corrected the issue.

I've run the browser's in their respective safe modes to avoid possible conflicts with extensions. The redirects still occur on the Chromium-based browsers I've tried so my next move will be to analyze the headers being sent when I have time.

Nonetheless, I appreciate your help in pointing me to possible causes. Edited ... by marsuniverse

[OpenSourcerer 1359]

Ah. Well. So you were simply reidentified by browser metadata. You've got little chance reconfiguring Chromium-based browsers to Firefox' behavior, I'm afraid.
About fingerprinting, this one option does many things.

[Stalinium 43]

What language is your browser set to? I mean the "Accept-Language: en-US" HTTP Header

[marsuniverse 0]

On 5/29/2022 at 9:13 PM, Stalinium said:

What language is your browser set to? I mean the "Accept-Language: en-US" HTTP Header

English (US). HTTP Header is: Accept-Language: en-US;q=0.8