RSS feed fetch fails for thewitnesshk.com with 403 Forbidden error

[forkmax]

Describe the bug

Description

The RSS feed for thewitnesshk.com is failing to fetch with a 403 Forbidden error on Follow.is, while working normally on other RSS readers.

Current Behavior:

• Feed URL: https://thewitnesshk.com/feed
• Error message: Feed fetch error: [GET] "https://thewitnesshk.com/feed": 403 Forbidden
• Existing subscriptions to this feed have stopped updating for approximately one month

Verification Steps:

1. The same RSS feed URL works correctly in other RSS readers
2. Feed content is still being actively updated on the source website
3. The 403 error suggests the request is being explicitly rejected by the server

Technical Analysis: The 403 Forbidden error specifically indicates that:

• The server recognizes the request but refuses to authorize it
• This might be due to:
  • Request header configurations in Follow.is

Suggested Investigation: Please check:

• Request headers being sent by Follow.is
• User agent string configuration
• IP rotation or proxy settings if applicable
• Any recent changes in the feed fetching mechanism

Additional Context: Since the feed works in other RSS readers but fails specifically in Follow.is, this suggests a potential server-side restriction targeting specific client characteristics rather than a general feed availability issue.

Feed Info

Feed URL: https://thewitnesshk.com/feed

Reproduction Video

No response

App Type

Electron / App

Version

0.1.0-beta.0

Operating System

macOS

Browser Info

No response

Validations

• [X] Check that there isn't already an issue that reports the same bug to avoid creating a duplicate.
• [X] Check that this is a concrete bug. For Q&A, please open a GitHub Discussion instead.

Contributions

• [ ] I am willing to submit a PR to fix this issue
• [ ] I am willing to submit a PR with failing tests (actually just go ahead and do it, thanks!)

[linear[bot]]

FOL-588 RSS feed fetch fails for thewitnesshk.com with 403 Forbidden error