Block outgoing requests to api.wordpress.org

block-api-wp-org-requests.php

<?php

add_filter('pre_http_request', 'block_blacklisted_domains', 10, 3);
function block_blacklisted_domains($preempt, $r, $url) {

    $blacklisted_domains = array(
        'api.wordpress.org', 
    );

    foreach ($blacklisted_domains as $domain) {
        if (strpos($url, $domain) !== false) {
            // error_log('Blocked HTTP request to: ' . $url); // Optional: log the blocked request
            return true;
        }
    }

    return $preempt; 
}