# Struggling with Cloudflare Verification **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 5, 2025, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/struggling-with-cloudflare-verification/1021710 "2025-08-05T02:43:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ellecram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellecram/32/18948_2.png) [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/struggling-with-cloudflare-verification/1021710/1 "2025-08-05T02:43:24Z")
I thought I might post this here to see if anyone has any suggestions. I purchased a new Kindle Fire 8 a couple months ago and finally got around to setting it up. For some reason it will not allow me to access a forum that I frequently visit because Cloudfare’s human verification bot gets stuck. It keeps looping and never actually gets to the site. I’ve tried a number of things including syncing the date/time, restarting, checking for updates, fussing around with different settings, etc. Kindles will not let you download another browser without some effort and I really don’t want to do that. Oddly my two other Kindles which are 4 and 6 years old work just fine as does my mobile and my desktop computer. I am stumped why just one device in my house has this issue. I’ve gone to the Cloudfare Community and Cloudfare subreddit but it seems to be an enduring mystery. I just want to shout into my device and tell it to please believe I am human. From what I have read there are many sites using Cloudfare now and I will be locked out of them with this brand new device. I may have to consider buying a Samsung tablet in the future and retire the Kindle Fire tablets. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/struggling-with-cloudflare-verification/1021710/2 "2025-08-05T07:12:37Z")
@Ellecram , I know you mentioned this, but the first thing I would try would be a different browser (e.g. Fennec). If you first install F-Droid, you can install/uninstall stuff with no effort. I have installed F-Droid on a Kindle Fire 8 via plugging it into a computer (which already had Android tools on it) using a USB cable, so, yes, it was _some_ effort in that sense, but a whole lot less than the messing with the settings and so on that you describe in your post. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/struggling-with-cloudflare-verification/1021710/3 "2025-08-05T07:40:07Z")
For what it’s worth, the reason you’re having this problem is almost certainly related to the suddenly stratospheric level of scraping activity being conducted by AI bots. The AI companies are vacuuming up everything on the internet to train their language models. The amount of traffic is incredible, and has become destabilizing and sometimes incapacitating for smaller websites with limited bandwidth. The scrapers are supposed to respect the website’s configuration if it tells the bots not to scrape, but the AI companies are already operating in an ethical gray area and many of them disregard the configuration and scrape anyway. To defend themselves, many websites have turned to Cloudflare to try to block the bots from entering. Here’s a background article if anyone wants more information. > **[AI site Perplexity uses “stealth tactics” to flout no-crawl edicts,...](https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2025/08/ai-site-perplexity-uses-stealth-tactics-to-flout-no-crawl-edicts-cloudflare-says/)** > > The allegations are the latest to accuse Perplexity of improper web crawling. It’s possible that you’re originating from an IP zone that has significant bot traffic, and as a result Cloudflare is raising a stiffer defense for you. It could also have something to do with your browser configuration that’s tripping their automated alarms. It’s impossible to say, really. This doesn’t help you solve your problem, but it does provide some sense of why it’s happening. And if the AI scrapers aren’t reined in, then the problem is going to get a whole lot worse, for all of us, before it starts getting better. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/struggling-with-cloudflare-verification/1021710/4 "2025-08-05T14:25:29Z")
If I remember right, Amazon Silk (the Kindle browser) will proxy your requests through Amazon servers to speed up loading. It’s not generally nefarious, but maybe contributes your issues with Cloudflare? Try turning off the option (or anything like it): [https://www.groovypost.com/howto/amazon-kindle-fire-silk-browser-disable-cloud-page-accelerator/](https://www.groovypost.com/howto/amazon-kindle-fire-silk-browser-disable-cloud-page-accelerator/) ---
**Author:** ![Ellecram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellecram/32/18948_2.png) [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/struggling-with-cloudflare-verification/1021710/5 "2025-08-05T18:55:45Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > For what it’s worth, the reason you’re having this problem is almost certainly related to the suddenly stratospheric level of scraping activity being conducted by AI bots. > > The AI companies are vacuuming up everything on the internet to train their language models. The amount of traffic is incredible, and has become destabilizing and sometimes incapacitating for smaller websites with limited bandwidth. The scrapers are supposed to respect the website’s configuration if it tells the bots not to scrape, but the AI companies are already operating in an ethical gray area and many of them disregard the configuration and scrape anyway. To defend themselves, many websites have turned to Cloudflare to try to block the bots from entering. > > Here’s a background article if anyone wants more information. > > [AI site Perplexity uses “stealth tactics” to flout no-crawl edicts, Cloudflare says - Ars Technica](https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2025/08/ai-site-perplexity-uses-stealth-tactics-to-flout-no-crawl-edicts-cloudflare-says/) > > It’s possible that you’re originating from an IP zone that has significant bot traffic, and as a result Cloudflare is raising a stiffer defense for you. It could also have something to do with your browser configuration that’s tripping their automated alarms. It’s impossible to say, really. > > This doesn’t help you solve your problem, but it does provide some sense of why it’s happening. > > And if the AI scrapers aren’t reined in, then the problem is going to get a whole lot worse, for all of us, before it starts getting better. This is exactly the reason. The forum has been troubled by swarms of bots in recent months and this is the solution for now. And everything is fine except for my brand new out of the box kindle lol. ---
**Author:** ![Ellecram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellecram/32/18948_2.png) [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/struggling-with-cloudflare-verification/1021710/6 "2025-08-05T18:57:24Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > If I remember right, Amazon Silk (the Kindle browser) will proxy your requests through Amazon servers to speed up loading. It’s not generally nefarious, but maybe contributes your issues with Cloudflare? Try turning off the option (or anything like it): [https://www.groovypost.com/howto/amazon-kindle-fire-silk-browser-disable-cloud-page-accelerator/](https://www.groovypost.com/howto/amazon-kindle-fire-silk-browser-disable-cloud-page-accelerator/) This is something I don’t think I have tried. I’ll give it a go. Maybe it’s a setting on my new kindle that I have not fussed with yet. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Ellecram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellecram/32/18948_2.png) [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/struggling-with-cloudflare-verification/1021710/7 "2025-08-05T18:58:39Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > @Ellecram , > > I know you mentioned this, but the first thing I would try would be a different browser (e.g. Fennec). If you first install F-Droid, you can install/uninstall stuff with no effort. I have installed F-Droid on a Kindle Fire 8 via plugging it into a computer (which already had Android tools on it) using a USB cable, so, yes, it was _some_ effort in that sense, but a whole lot less than the messing with the settings and so on that you describe in your post. I have not tried this either. I’ll take a look! Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/struggling-with-cloudflare-verification/1021710/8 "2025-08-05T20:11:14Z")
OK; let me know if you have any issues! The specific tool you need on your computer is `adb` (in order to install the `F-Droid.apk` file). Running `adb install F-Droid.apk` after downloading the apk file worked for me. You probably also need to enable Developer Options → USB Debugging on the tablet. Now that I think of it, you may be able to avoid all that if you can simply download and install the APK from your current browser; see Option 2: > **[Get F-Droid | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository](https://f-droid.org/docs/Get_F-Droid/)** > > Install F-DroidTo install F-Droid, choose one of those 5 options: Easy options: Option 1. Buy a phone with pre-installedF-Droid. ... ---
**Author:** ![Ellecram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellecram/32/18948_2.png) [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/struggling-with-cloudflare-verification/1021710/9 "2025-08-05T20:24:02Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > OK; let me know if you have any issues! The specific tool you need on your computer is `adb` (in order to install the `F-Droid.apk` file). Running `adb install F-Droid.apk` after downloading the apk file worked for me. You probably also need to enable Developer Options → USB Debugging on the tablet. > > Now that I think of it, you may be able to avoid all that if you can simply download and install the APK from your current browser; see Option 2: > [Get F-Droid | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository](https://f-droid.org/docs/Get_F-Droid/) Thank you for the suggestions! Much appreciated. I am going to figure this out and fix it somehow.