If you encountered it without a VPN, it would appear to not be based purely on VPN usage - which at the very least is good news for the privacy oriented.
I’m on iOS 17.1.1 using Safari. I also have Proton VPN enabled in the states but if I try to visit any page on the website I see this:
If I disable it, the page will load.
Edit: as per a comment, this may not be a VPN only issue.
Additional edit: Reddit has written an official post stating it was an issue after production code deployment and was reverted
Thank you for sharing some clarification.