ChatGPT

A community volunteer emailed OpenAI's support team asking it to restore access for users in Syria, citing Syria's removal from the US state sponsors of terrorism list. No response was recorded.

OpenAI's AI-assisted support replied that ChatGPT and the API are supported only in listed countries, declined to give a regulation-by-regulation determination, and asked which product and error message the user sees before it would confirm anything.

OpenAI Support told a volunteer that Syria is not among the supported countries for ChatGPT or the API, that it cannot enable access individually, and that OpenAI has published no roadmap, review process or estimated date for adding Syria.

OpenAI Support replied that Syria is not on its published list of supported countries and that the list may change over time. It said the feedback would be passed internally but that Support cannot give a timeline, guarantee any change, or provide status updates.

A community volunteer asked OpenAI Support to escalate the Syria question to its policy, legal or compliance team rather than restate that Syria is unsupported, citing the end of the Syria Sanctions Program and the Caesar Act repeal, and asked whether eligibility had been reassessed.

A community volunteer emailed OpenAI's support team requesting the country restriction be reviewed in light of Syria's removal from the state-sponsor-of-terrorism list, the latest in a sustained outreach campaign.

A community volunteer emailed OpenAI's support team with the updated legal basis following Syria's removal from the state-sponsor-of-terrorism list, asking which regulation any remaining restriction rests on.

OpenAI's support team replied twice to a different volunteer's exchange, both times acknowledging the request and saying feedback would be passed internally, with no timeline or commitment to any change.

A community volunteer emailed OpenAI's support team as part of a same-day outreach round to five companies, updating the legal basis to include Syria's August 2026 removal from the state-sponsor-of-terrorism list.

A community volunteer emailed OpenAI's support team with the standard outreach request, citing the sanctions relief and pointing to unblocksyria.com/resources; the thread received no reply.

OpenAI's support team replied acknowledging the request and stating it would be passed on internally, then sent a further reply prematurely closing the ticket as resolved, though nothing had actually changed.

A community volunteer emailed OpenAI's support team requesting that ChatGPT access be enabled for Syrian users, again citing the 2025 sanctions relief and noting competitors had already restored access.

OpenAI's support team escalated the request to a specialist, who acknowledged the legal documentation and said it would be reviewed and passed to internal teams, again without a timeline.

UnblockSyria's legal advisor sent a formal compliance-review request to OpenAI's support team, providing detailed legal references on the 2025 sanctions relief and noting several AI peers had restored access.

OpenAI's support team replied with the same automated response, repeating that only supported-list countries have access and that it had no visibility into any internal review timeline.

UnblockSyria sent an official follow-up after seven weeks of silence, noting several AI competitors had already restored access and that ChatGPT remained the most-requested service on the platform.

OpenAI's support team replied again, acknowledging the request and stating feedback would be shared internally, without a timeline or commitment to any specific action.

A community volunteer followed up with OpenAI's support team, sharing the sanctions documentation again and asking whether the matter could be raised with the legal or compliance team.

The same community volunteer pushed back on the automated reply, asking that the request be submitted internally rather than handled by the AI agent.

OpenAI's support team sent a second automated reply, again stating Syria is not on the supported-countries list and that accessing the service from an unsupported location could suspend an account.

OpenAI's support team sent an automated reply stating Syria is not on its supported-countries list for ChatGPT or the API, and that it could not confirm if or when that would change.

OpenAI's support team responded to the escalated chat request, acknowledging the sanctions changes and stating the matter would be passed on internally, with no timeline given — the first human reply OpenAI gave.

A community volunteer contacted OpenAI through its help.openai.com chat, was initially routed to an AI agent, and pressed for escalation to a human specialist.

A community volunteer emailed OpenAI's support team asking for a review of the Syria restrictions in light of the 2025 sanctions relief, receiving no reply on this thread.

A community volunteer, an information security consultant, emailed OpenAI's support team requesting a policy review in light of the 2025 sanctions relief, attaching an official sanctions advisory document.

A second community volunteer emailed OpenAI's support team requesting that ChatGPT access be enabled for Syrian users, citing the same 2025 sanctions relief and noting other companies had already restored access.

A community volunteer, a Syrian developer, emailed OpenAI's support team asking that ChatGPT access be restored for users in Syria, citing the December 2025 U.S. and EU sanctions relief.

OpenAI's support team replied within minutes with an automated response, stating ChatGPT and its API are available only in listed supported countries and Syria is not included, with no visibility into any compliance review.

UnblockSyria's co-founder emailed OpenAI's support team requesting a compliance review to restore ChatGPT access for Syrian users, citing the 2025 U.S. and EU sanctions relief.