Many domain names are blocked in mainland China under the country's Internet censorship policy, which prevents users from accessing certain websites from within the country. [1]
A majority of apps and websites blocked are the result of the companies not willing to follow the Chinese government's internet regulations on data collection and privacy, user-safety, guidelines and the type of content being shared, posted or hosted.
This is a list of the most notable such blocked websites in the country (except Autonomous area). This page does not apply to Chinese territories that adhere to the policy of one country, two systems (Hong Kong and Macau).
This article needs to be updated.(July 2023) |
Website | Domain | URL | Category | Primary language | Duration of blockage | Current status |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
google.com | www.google.com drive.google.com chat.google.com scholar.google.com | Search | Multilingual | 2010–present [2] [3] | Blocked [4] [3] | |
YouTube | youtube.com | www.youtube.com | Video | Multilingual | 2007 - 2008, 2009–present [5] [4] [6] | Blocked |
facebook.com | www.facebook.com | Social | Multilingual | July (or earlier) 2009–present [7] [8] | Blocked [9] | |
Yahoo | yahoo.com | yahoo.com | Search | Multilingual | 28 February 2021 – present | Unblocked (Service Not Available) [10] |
Wikipedia | wikipedia.org | wikipedia.org | Encyclopedia | Multilingual | 23 April 2019 – present [11] [12] [6] | Partially blocked, sometimes can be accessed normally, sometimes inaccessible |
Marxists Internet Archive | marxists.org | marxists.org | Encyclopedia | Multilingual | About 2005–no later than 2007 [13] | Unblocked |
reddit.com | www.reddit.com | Social | Multilingual | 2018–present [14] | Blocked | |
Fandom | fandom.com | community.fandom.com | Wikia | Multilingual | 2022–present | Partially blocked, sometimes can be accessed normally, sometimes inaccessible |
Netflix | netflix.com | www.netflix.com | Entertainment | Multilingual | 2012–present | Unblocked (Service Not Available) [15] |
Zoom | zoom.us | zoom.us | Videotelephony | English | 9 September to November 2019 [16] | Unblocked |
Blogspot | blogspot.com | blogspot.com | Blog | English | May 2009–present [17] [18] [19] | Blocked |
Bing | bing.com | bing.com | Search | Multilingual | 23 to 24 January 2019 [20] | Unblocked (Service Not Available, redirects to Chinese version - cn.bing.com) [21] |
Instagram.com | www.Instagram.com | Image Sharing | Multilingual | September 2014–present [22] | Blocked | |
whatsapp.com | whatsapp.com | Messaging | Multilingual | September 2017–present [23] | Blocked | |
Twitch | twitch.tv | twitch.tv | Streaming | English | 17 September 2018–present | Blocked [24] |
Roblox | roblox.com | roblox.com | Gaming | Multilingual | December 2021 – present | Blocked (Separate Chinese version exists) |
Steam Store | store.steampowered.com | store.steampowered.com | Entertainment | Multilingual | 25 December 2021 [25] [26] –present | Partially blocked, sometimes could be accessed normally, sometimes inaccessible; separate Chinese version exists |
Steam Community | steamcommunity.com | steamcommunity.com | Social | Multilingual | 15 December 2017 [27] [28] –present | Blocked |
Spotify | spotify.com | spotify.com | Music streaming | Multilingual | 7 October 2008–present | Unblocked (Service Not Available) [29] |
Messenger | messenger.com | messenger.com | Messaging | Multilingual | August 2011–present [7] [8] | Partially blocked (available for tourists in Hainan) [4] [ needs update ] |
X | x.com | x.com | Social | English | June 2009–present [17] [30] [8] | Partially blocked (available for tourists in Hainan) [4] [ needs update ] |
linkedin.com | linkedin.com | Social | Multilingual | October 2021–present [1] [11] [12] | Blocked (Separate Chinese version exists) | |
Skype | skype.com | skype.com | Social | Multilingual | November 2017–unknown [31] | Unblocked |
Tumblr | tumblr.com | tumblr.com | Social | English | 25 May 2016–present [32] | Blocked |
pinterest.com | pinterest.com | Image sharing | Multilingual | March 2017–present [33] | Blocked | |
SoundCloud | SoundCloud.com | SoundCloud.com | Music streaming | Multilingual | September 2013–present [34] | Blocked |
Signal Private Messenger | signal.org | signal.org | Instant messaging | Multilingual | March 16, 2021 – present [35] | Blocked |
Dropbox | dropbox.com | dropbox.com | File sharing | Multilingual | May 2010 – February 2014; June 2014 – present [36] | Blocked |
Pornhub | pornhub.com | www.pornhub.com | Pornography | English | 2012, May to 2016, April, to present | Blocked [37] |
XVideos | xvideos.com | xvideos.com | Pornography videos | English | Unknown – present | Blocked |
Medium | medium.com | medium.com | News | English | 2016, 15 April to present [38] | Blocked |
Dailymotion | dailymotion.com | dailymotion.com | Sharing | English | 2007, 11 April to present [39] | Blocked |
BBC | bbc.co.uk (or bbc.com) | bbc.co.uk (or bbc.com) | News and broadcasting | English | 2014, 15 October to present [40] | Blocked |
The New York Times | nytimes.com | nytimes.com | Publication | English | 2012 to present | Blocked [41] |
Vimeo | vimeo.com | www.vimeo.com | Sharing | English | 2009, October [42] to present [43] | Blocked |
The Guardian | theguardian.com | theguardian.com | News | English | June 2019 to present [44] | Blocked |
SlideShare | slideshare.net | slideshare.net | English | June 2012 to present | Blocked [45] | |
Discord | discord.com | discord.com | Messaging | Multilingual | 2018, 13 July to present [46] | Blocked |
DeviantArt | deviantart.com | www.deviantart.com | Art display | English | 2008, 15 December to present [47] | Blocked |
The Washington Post | washingtonpost.com | washingtonpost.com | News | English | June 2019 to present [44] | Blocked |
Nico Video | nicovideo.jp | nicovideo.jp | Sharing | Japanese | Unknown to present [48] | Blocked |
Archive.org (Internet Archive) | archive.org | www.archive.org | Web archiving | English | 2011, April (or earlier) to Present [49] | Blocked [50] [51] |
Bloomberg | bloomberg.com | bloomberg.com | Publication | English | 2012, July to present [52] | Blocked |
Flickr | flickr.com | flickr.com | Sharing | English | 2007, 7 June to present [53] [54] | Blocked |
Wretch | wretch.cc | www.wretch.cc | Blog | Chinese | 2007, August to 2012 [55] | Blocked (discontinued) |
HuffPost | huffpost.com | huffpost.com | News | English | June 2019 to present [44] | Blocked |
The Wall Street Journal | wsj.com | wsj.com | News | English | No later than 22 September 2015 to present [56] [57] | Blocked |
DuckDuckGo | duckduckgo.com | duckduckgo.com | Search | English | 2014, September to present [58] | Blocked |
Scratch | scratch.mit.edu | scratch.mit.edu | Programming, Sharing | Multilingual | 2020, 14 August to present | Partially Blocked (Not accessible) [59] [ citation needed ] [60] |
Reuters | reuters.com | reuters.com | News | English | 2015, 20 March, to present [61] | Blocked |
NBC News | nbcnews.com | www.nbcnews.com | News | English | June 2019 to present [44] | Blocked |
TIME | time.com | time.com | News | English | 2016. 9 April to present [62] | Blocked |
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) | cbc.ca | www.cbc.ca | News and broadcasting | English | 2014 to present [63] | Blocked |
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) | www.abc.net.au | www.abc.net.au | News and broadcasting | English | 2018, 22 August to present [64] | Blocked |
Bandcamp | bandcamp.com | www.bandcamp.com | Music | English | 2021, February to present [65] | Blocked |
Technorati | technorati.com | www.technorati.com | Search | English | 2008, July to Present [66] | Blocked |
Archive of Our Own | archiveofourown.org | archiveofourown.org | Fanfiction | Multilingual | 2020, March, to present [67] | Blocked |
Viber | viber.com | viber.com | Messaging | Multilingual | 2014, October to present [68] | Blocked |
South China Morning Post | scmp.com | scmp.com | News | English | 2016 to present [69] | Blocked |
Plurk | plurk.com | www.plurk.com | Social | Multilingual | 2009, April to Present [70] | Blocked |
The Economist | economist.com | economist.com | News | English | April 2016 – present [71] [72] | Blocked |
ABC | abc.es | www.abc.es | News | Spanish | 29 November 2021 – present [73] | Blocked |
Voice of America | voanews.com | www.voanews.com | News | English | Unknown – present [74] | Blocked |
Radio Free Asia | rfa.org | rfa.org | News, broadcasting | Multilingual | Unknown – present [75] [76] | Blocked |
NBC | nbc.com | nbc.com | Broadcasting | English | June 2019 – present [44] | Blocked |
PBworks | pbworks.com | pbworks.com | Sharing | English | January 2011 – present [77] | Blocked |
The Epoch Times | theepochtimes.com | www.theepochtimes.com | News | English | 2003–present [78] | Blocked |
The Epoch Times (Chinese edition) | epochtimes.com | www.epochtimes.com | News | Chinese | 1999–present [78] | Blocked |
HBO | hbo.com | www.hbo.com | Entertainment | English | June 2018 – present [79] | Blocked |
WION | wionews.com | www.wionews.com | News | English | July 2020 – present [80] | Blocked [81] |
Hong Kong Free Press | hongkongfp.com | hongkongfp.com | News | English | November 2015 – present [82] | Blocked |
Apple Daily | hk.appledaily.com | hk.appledaily.com | News | Traditional Chinese (Cantonese) | Unknown – 2021 (closed) | Blocked, [83] closed in 2021 |
TikTok | tiktok.com | www.tiktok.com | Social | Multilingual | June 2020 – present | Blocked [84] |
ChatGPT | openai.com | chatgpt.com chat.openai.com | Artificial Intelligence | Multilingual | 2023–present | Blocked [85] |
Rockstar Games | rockstargames.com | www.rockstargames.com | Gaming | Multilingual | Unknown–present | Blocked |
GitHub | github.com | www.github.com | Web tools | Multilingual | June 2020 – present | Partially blocked, sometimes could be accessed normally, sometimes inaccessible |
Hugging Face | huggingface.co | huggingface.co | Artificial Intelligence | Multilingual | 2023–present | Blocked [86] |
Flipkart | flipkart.com | www.flipkart.com | Online Shopping | Multilingual | Unknown–present | Blocked |
Zomato | zomato.com | www.zomato.com | Food Service | English | Unknown–present | Blocked |
Clubhouse | clubhouse.com | www.clubhouse.com | Social | English | February 2021 – present | Blocked [87] |
Swiggy | swiggy.com | www.swiggy.com | Food Service | English | Unknown–present | Blocked |
Truth Social | truthsocial.com | www.truthsocial.com | Social Media | English | February 2022 – present | Blocked [88] |
National Weather Service | weather.gov | www.weather.gov | Weather | English | Unknown-present | Blocked |
Kanzhongguo (English) | visiontimes.com | www.visiontimes.com | Newspaper | English | Unknown-present | Blocked [89] |
Kanzhongguo (Chinese) | secretchina.com | www.secretchina.com pdf.secretchina.com | Newspaper | Chinese | Unknown-present | Blocked [90] |
Telegram | telegram.org | telegram.org | Messaging | Multilingual | July 2015 – present | Blocked |
China censors both the publishing and viewing of online material. Many controversial events are censored from news coverage, preventing many Chinese citizens from knowing about the actions of their government, and severely restricting freedom of the press. China's censorship includes the complete blockage of various websites, apps, and video games, inspiring the policy's nickname, the Great Firewall of China, which blocks websites. Methods used to block websites and pages include DNS spoofing, blocking access to IP addresses, analyzing and filtering URLs, packet inspection, and resetting connections.
China has been on the Internet intermittently since May 1989 and on a permanent basis since 20 April 1994, although with heavily censored access. In 2008, China became the country with the largest population on the Internet and, as of 2024, has remained so. As of December 2024, 1.09 billion use internet in China.
The Great Firewall is the combination of legislative actions and technologies enforced by the People's Republic of China to regulate the Internet domestically. Its role in internet censorship in China is to block access to selected foreign websites and to slow down cross-border internet traffic. The Great Firewall operates by checking transmission control protocol (TCP) packets for keywords or sensitive words. If the keywords or sensitive words appear in the TCP packets, access will be closed. If one link is closed, more links from the same machine will be blocked by the Great Firewall. The effect includes: limiting access to foreign information sources, blocking foreign internet tools and mobile apps, and requiring foreign companies to adapt to domestic regulations.
Freegate is a software application developed by Dynamic Internet Technology (DIT) that enables internet users to view websites blocked by their governments. The program takes advantage of a range of proxy servers called Dynaweb. This allows users to bypass Internet firewalls that block web sites by using DIT's Peer-to-peer (P2P)-like proxy network system. FreeGate's anti-censorship capability is further enhanced by a new, unique encryption and compression algorithm in the versions of 6.33 and above. Dynamic Internet Technology estimates Freegate had 200,000 users in 2004. The maintainer and CEO of DIT is Bill Xia.
Censorship in the People's Republic of China (PRC) is mandated by the country's ruling party, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It is one of the strictest censorship regimes in the world. The government censors content for mainly political reasons, such as curtailing political opposition, and censoring events unfavorable to the CCP, such as the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, pro-democracy movements in China, the persecution of Uyghurs in China, human rights in Tibet, Falun Gong, pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, and aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since Xi Jinping became the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in 2012, censorship has been "significantly stepped up".
Internet censorship is the legal control or suppression of what can be accessed, published, or viewed on the Internet. Censorship is most often applied to specific internet domains but exceptionally may extend to all Internet resources located outside the jurisdiction of the censoring state. Internet censorship may also put restrictions on what information can be made internet accessible. Organizations providing internet access – such as schools and libraries – may choose to preclude access to material that they consider undesirable, offensive, age-inappropriate or even illegal, and regard this as ethical behavior rather than censorship. Individuals and organizations may engage in self-censorship of material they publish, for moral, religious, or business reasons, to conform to societal norms, political views, due to intimidation, or out of fear of legal or other consequences.
Iran is known for having one of the world's most comprehensive Internet censorship systems. The Iranian government and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have blocked access to many popular websites and online services, including YouTube, Twitter, Facebook Instagram and Telegram. Internet traffic in the country is heavily restricted and monitored. Internet Filtering Committee (Iran) headed by Prosecutor-General of Iran decides which websites must be censored and implements this vast censorship.
Tencent Holdings Ltd. is a Chinese multinational technology conglomerate and holding company headquartered in Shenzhen. It is one of the highest grossing multimedia companies in the world based on revenue. It is also the world's largest company in the video game industry based on its equity investments.
Facebook is a social networking service that has been gradually replacing traditional media channels since 2010. Facebook has limited moderation of the content posted to its site. Because the site indiscriminately displays material publicly posted by users, Facebook can, in effect, threaten oppressive governments. Facebook can simultaneously propagate fake news, hate speech, and misinformation, thereby undermining the credibility of online platforms and social media.
UltraSurf is a closed-source freeware Internet censorship circumvention product created by UltraReach Internet Corporation. The software bypasses Internet censorship and firewalls using an HTTP proxy server, and employs encryption protocols for privacy.
Internet censorship circumvention, also referred to as going over the wall or scientific browsing in China, is the use of various methods and tools to bypass internet censorship.
WeChat or Weixin in Chinese ; lit. 'micro-message') is a Chinese instant messaging, social media, and mobile payment app developed by Tencent. First released in 2011, it became the world's largest standalone mobile app in 2018 with over 1 billion monthly active users. WeChat has been described as China's "app for everything" and a super-app because of its wide range of functions. WeChat provides text messaging, hold-to-talk voice messaging, broadcast (one-to-many) messaging, video conferencing, video games, mobile payment, sharing of photographs and videos and location sharing.
In Russia, internet censorship is enforced on the basis of several laws and through several mechanisms. Since 2012, Russia maintains a centralized internet blacklist maintained by the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor).
Censorship by Apple refers to Apple Inc.'s removal, omission, or disruption of the spread of content or information from its services or subsidiaries, such as the iTunes Store and the App Store (iOS), in order to comply with Apple's company policies, legal demands, or various government censorship laws.
VPN blocking is a technique used to block the encrypted protocol tunneling communications methods used by virtual private network (VPN) systems. Often used by large organizations such as national governments or corporations, it can act as a tool for computer security or Internet censorship by preventing the use of VPNs to bypass network firewall systems.
GitHub has been the target of censorship from governments using methods ranging from local Internet service provider blocks, intermediary blocking using methods such as DNS hijacking and man-in-the-middle attacks, and denial-of-service attacks on GitHub's servers from countries including China, India, Iraq, Russia, and Turkey. In all of these cases, GitHub has been eventually unblocked after backlash from users and technology businesses or compliance from GitHub.
GreatFire (GreatFire.org) is a website that monitors the status of websites censored by the Great Firewall of China and helps Chinese Internet users circumvent the censorship and blockage of websites in China. The site was first launched in 2011 by an anonymous trio. GreatFire is funded by sources inside and outside China, including the US-government-backed Open Technology Fund.
The Cyberspace Administration of China is the national internet regulator and censor of the People's Republic of China.
FreeWeibo is a website that monitors and makes available content from leading Chinese microblogging site Sina Weibo that has been censored and deleted by Chinese authorities under the Great Firewall. The home page is constantly updated to show the latest most-censored Weibo content.
Freedom of the press in China refers to the journalism standards and its freedom and censorship exercised by the government of China. The Constitution of the People's Republic of China guarantees "freedom of speech [and] of the press" which the government, in practice, routinely violates with total impunity, according to Reporters Without Borders.
Wikipedia, Facebook, Google, and other sites normally blocked in China
China's "Great Firewall" is one of many impossible to breach through of the world's most comprehensive internet censorship regimes, preventing citizens from accessing websites like Instagram, Wikipedia and YouTube
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