Full List of Websites & Apps That Are Banned in China (Updated)
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| The government monitors content and the word's most popular websites and apps are not easily accessible. Photo: KnowInsiders.com |
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China started monitoring and censoring the internet inside its borders in the late 1990s. The first ten years of internet censorship went largely unnoticed.
Using its infamous filtering system, "The Great Firewall," China blocks thousands of websites (more than 8,000 websites as of this writing). China's aggressive approach to the Internet is justified by its purported desire to shield its people from outside influence and "harmful information."
Netizens from other regions of the world encounter difficulties keeping track of the blocked websites in China because of this when they visit the country for business, pleasure, or to live there.
Why does China ban access to so many websites?
The concept of cyber sovereignty is one that the Chinese government supports. This is the viewpoint that every nation should have control over how the internet functions within its borders and the various forms of content that its citizens can access.
The Chinese government's increasingly restrictive stance toward the internet can be attributed to a number of factors. These include a desire to censor information about contentious historical occurrences and to restrict citizens' ability to start social movements and plan mass protests.
Fortunately, when tourists or expats try to get around internet censorship, the Chinese government typically seems willing to look the other way.
What is the Great Firewall of China?
The phrase "Great Firewall of China" is a playful combination of the Great Wall of China and "firewall," the government-used technology that restricts access to websites. It was first used in China's early attempts to censor the internet in the late 1990s. Since then, the government's ability to restrict citizens' access has only gotten stronger, forcing millions of users to look for other options to reclaim their online freedom.
China has more than 60 different laws that govern the content of the internet. This includes measures that encourage users to rely on Chinese-made websites, such as filtering keywords out of search engine results, blocking websites, and throttling border-crossing traffic. These regulations, which are enforced by divisions of state-owned ISPs, have an impact on both residents and visitors to the mainland.
Over 3,000 websites are blocked by China's Great Firewall, and the number is constantly rising. Each filter's justification from the authorities is vague, such as "protecting the interests of the citizens" and "removing objectionable content." However, as many Chinese journalists have noted, the blocks are primarily directed at content that could hurt influential political and corporate interests.
Read More: How to Access The Blocked Websites in China With Simpliest Ways
Top 10 websites and apps that were blocked in China
(Updated by KnowInsiders.com in April 2023)
1. Google
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| Photo: Travel China Cheaper |
Yes, you cannot Google in China. The world's most-popular search engine is blocked in the country. Baidu is Google's rival in China.
Duration of blockage: 2010 to present
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2. Facebook
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| Photo: Travel China Cheaper |
The world's no. 1 social network too is not accessible in China. WeChat is the largest social media platform in China.
Duration of blockage: 2009, July (or earlier) to present
3. Twitter
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| Photo: Travel China Cheaper |
The popular micro-blogging website Twitter too is banned in China. Weibo is Twitter's equivalent in China.
Duration of blockage: 2009, June to present
4. YouTube
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| Photo: Travel China Cheaper |
Google-owned video platform YouTube too is blocked. YouTube rivals in China are Youku.com, a subsidiary of Alibaba, and Tencent Video.
Duration of blockage: 2009 to present
5. Instagram
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| Photo: Travel China Cheaper |
Like its parent company Facebook, the photo-sharing platform, Instagram too is blocked in China. Tencent-owned WeChat is said to be a mix of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram.
Duration of blockage: 2014, September to present
6. Gmail
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| Photo: Travel China Cheaper |
The world's most-popular email service Gmail is blocked in China. It can't be accessed from anywhere within the country.
Duration of blockage: 2014, December to present
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7. WhatsApp
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| Photo: Travel China Cheaper |
The world's no. 1 instant messaging app WhatsApp is blocked in China. Tencent-owned instant messaging app QQ is quite popular in the country.
Duration of blockage: 2017, 26 September, to present
8. Google Maps
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| Photo: Travel China Cheaper |
Like all popular Google services, Google Maps too is banned in China. The map developed by Baidu search engine is widely considered the most popularly-used map in China.
Duration of blockage: 2010 to present
9. Quora
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| Photo: Travel China Cheaper |
The question and answer site and app is not accessible in China. One of its key rival in China is Zhihu.
Duration of blockage: 2018, August to present
10. Tinder
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| Photo: Travel China Cheaper |
The dating app cannot be accessed in China. One of the most-popular dating app in China is Momo.
Duration of blockage: Unknown
The Full List of Blocked Websites and Apps in China (Updated in April 2023)
You will notice that I have categorized each website and app that is on this list of websites and apps that are blocked in China according to the type of website or app it is.
1.SOCIAL SITES
In China, access to the majority of the most popular social media websites written in English has been restricted, and each year, additional websites are added to the country's blacklist.
Snapchat
Quora
Tumblr
AO3
2.PRODUCTIVITY
If you want to run a successful business in China, you need to be aware of which of the productivity tools you rely on the most are restricted there.
Gmail
Dropbox
Google Apps (Drive, Docs, Calendar, Maps etc.)
Microsoft OneDrive
Slack
Google Play (i.e. no downloading Android apps)
Hootsuite
3.STREAMING (VIDEO/AUDIO)
In China, you won't be able to access any of these streaming sites, whether you want to watch content that's being streamed or upload videos to YouTube.
YouTube
DailyMotion
Vimeo
Twitch
Periscope
Pandora
Spotify
Soundcloud
4.NEWS MEDIA
New York Times
BBC
Financial Times
Wall Street Journal
Reuters
CNN
TIME
5.SEARCH ENGINES
Google (text and voice)
Amazon (Alexa)
Wikipedia
DuckDuckGo
6.MESSAGING APPS
Facebook Messenger
Telegram
Line
Signal
KaKao Talk (Korean)
7.PLATFORMS
Medium
Blogspot
Wordpress.com
Note: You can still host your own Wordpress-based website on your own servers.
8.VOIP CALLING
Skype (although it sometimes works, it’s not reliable)
Google Hangouts
Viber
Note: iMessage has worked fairly well, but it’s not as reliable as using WeChat for VoiP.
9.MISCELLANEOUS BLOCKED WEBSITES
Porn websites
VPN websites
Politically sensitive sites
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