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. This page does not apply to Chinese territories that adhere to the policy of one country, two systems ( Hong Kong and Macau). [2]
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] | Blocked [3] | |
YouTube | youtube.com | www.youtube.com | Video | Multilingual | 2009–present [4] | Blocked [3] |
facebook.com | www.facebook.com | Social | Multilingual | July (or earlier) 2009–present [5] [6] | Blocked [7] | |
Wikipedia | wikipedia.org | wikipedia.org | Encyclopedia | Multilingual | 23 April 2019 – present [8] [9] | Blocked |
Marxists Internet Archive | marxists.org | marxists.org | Encyclopedia | Multilingual | About 2005–no later than 2007 [10] | Unblocked |
reddit.com | www.reddit.com | Social | Multilingual | 2018–present [11] | 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) [12] |
Zoom | zoom.us | zoom.us | Videotelephony | English | 9 September to November 2019 [13] | Unblocked |
Blogspot | blogspot.com | blogspot.com | Blog | English | May 2009–present [14] [15] [16] | Blocked |
Bing | bing.com | bing.com | Search | Multilingual | 23 to 24 January 2019 [17] | Unblocked (Service Not Available, redirects to Chinese version) [18] |
Instagram.com | www.Instagram.com | Image Sharing | Multilingual | September 2014–present [19] | Blocked | |
whatsapp.com | whatsapp.com | Messaging | Multilingual | September 2017–present [20] | Blocked | |
Twitch | twitch.tv | twitch.tv | Streaming | English | 17 September 2018–present | Blocked [21] |
Roblox | roblox.com | roblox.com | Gaming | Multilingual | December 2021-present | Blocked |
Steam Store | store.steampowered.com | store.steampowered.com | Entertainment | Multilingual | 25 December 2021 [22] [23]–present | Partially blocked, sometimes could be accessed normally, sometimes inaccessible |
Steam Community | steamcommunity.com | steamcommunity.com | Social | Multilingual | 15 December 2017 [24] [25]–present | Blocked |
Spotify | spotify.com | spotify.com | Music streaming | Multilingual | 7 October 2008–present | Unblocked (Service Not Available) [26] |
Messenger | messenger.com | messenger.com | Messaging | Multilingual | August 2011–present [5] [6] | Partially blocked (available for tourists in Hainan) [3][ needs update] |
twitter.com | twitter.com | Social | English | June 2009–present [14] [27] [6] | Partially blocked (available for tourists in Hainan) [3][ needs update] | |
linkedin.com | linkedin.com | Social | Multilingual | October 2021–present [1] [8] [9] | Blocked (Separate Chinese version exists) | |
Skype | skype.com | skype.com | Social | Multilingual | November 2017–unknown [28] | Unblocked |
Tumblr | tumblr.com | tumblr.com | Social | English | 25 May 2016–present [29] | Blocked |
pinterest.com | pinterest.com | Image sharing | Multilingual | March 2017–present [30] | Blocked | |
SoundCloud | SoundCloud.com | SoundCloud.com | Music streaming | Multilingual | September 2013–present [31] | Blocked |
Signal Private Messenger | signal.org | signal.org | Instant messaging | Multilingual | March 16, 2021 – present [32] | Blocked |
Dropbox | dropbox.com | dropbox.com | File sharing | Multilingual | May 2010 – February 2014; June 2014 – present [33] | Blocked |
Pornhub | pornhub.com | www.pornhub.com | Pornography | English | 2012, May to 2016, April, to present | Blocked [34] |
OnlyFans | onlyfans.com | onlyfans.com | Social media broadcasting, but mostly pornography | English & other languages | ??? | Status unknown |
XVideos | xvideos.com | xvideos.com | Pornography videos | English | ??? – present | Blocked |
Medium | medium.com | medium.com | News | English | 2016, 15 April to present [35] | Blocked |
Dailymotion | dailymotion.com | dailymotion.com | Sharing | English | 2007, 11 April to present [36] | Blocked |
BBC | bbc.co.uk (or bbc.com) | bbc.co.uk (or bbc.com) | News and broadcasting | English | 2014, 15 October to present [37] | Blocked |
The New York Times | nytimes.com | nytimes.com | Publication | English | 2012 to present | Blocked [38] |
Vimeo | vimeo.com | www.vimeo.com | Sharing | English | 2009, October [39] to present [40] | Blocked |
The Guardian | theguardian.com | theguardian.com | News | English | June 2019 to present [41] | Blocked |
SlideShare | slideshare.net | slideshare.net | English | June 2012 to present | Blocked [42] | |
Discord | discord.com | discord.com | Messaging | Multilingual | 2018, 13 July to present [43] | Blocked |
DeviantArt | deviantart.com | www.deviantart.com | Art display | English | 2008, 15 December to present [44] | Blocked |
The Washington Post | washingtonpost.com | washingtonpost.com | News | English | June 2019 to present [41] | Blocked |
Nico Video | nicovideo.jp | nicovideo.jp | Sharing | Japanese | Unknown to present [45] | Blocked |
Archive.org (Internet Archive) | archive.org | www.archive.org | Web archiving | English | 2011, April (or earlier) to Present [46] | Blocked [47] [48] |
Bloomberg | bloomberg.com | bloomberg.com | Publication | English | 2012, July to present [49] | Blocked |
Flickr | flickr.com | flickr.com | Sharing | English | 2007, 7 June to present [50] [51] | Blocked |
Wretch | wretch.cc | www.wretch.cc | Blog | Chinese | 2007, August to 2012 [52] | Blocked (discontinued) |
HuffPost | huffpost.com | huffpost.com | News | English | June 2019 to present [41] | Blocked |
The Wall Street Journal | wsj.com | wsj.com | News | English | No later than 22 September 2015 to present [53] [54] | Blocked |
DuckDuckGo | duckduckgo.com | duckduckgo.com | Search | English | 2014, September to present [55] | Blocked |
Scratch | scratch.mit.edu | scratch.mit.edu | Programming, Sharing | Multilingual | 2020, 14 August to present | Blocked [56][ citation needed] [57] |
Reuters | reuters.com | reuters.com | News | English | 2015, 25 March, to present [58] | Blocked |
NBC News | nbcnews.com | www.nbcnews.com | News | English | June 2019 to present [41] | Blocked |
TIME | time.com | time.com | News | English | 2016. 9 April to present [59] | Blocked |
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) | cbc.ca | www.cbc.ca | News and broadcasting | English | 2014 to present [60] | Blocked |
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) | www.abc.net.au | www.abc.net.au | News and broadcasting | English | 2018, 22 August to present [61] | Blocked |
Bandcamp | bandcamp.com | www.bandcamp.com | Music | English | 2021, February to present [62] | Blocked |
Technorati | technorati.com | www.technorati.com | Search | English | 2008, July to Present [63] | Blocked |
Archive of Our Own | archiveofourown.org | archiveofourown.org | Fanfiction | Multilingual | 2020, March, to present [64] | Blocked |
Viber | viber.com | viber.com | Messaging | Multilingual | 2014, October to present [65] | Blocked |
South China Morning Post | scmp.com | scmp.com | News | Chinese | 2016 to present [66] | Blocked |
Plurk | plurk.com | www.plurk.com | Social | Multilingual | 2009, April to Present [67] | Blocked |
The Economist | economist.com | economist.com | News | English | April 2016 – present [68] [69] | Blocked |
Heise Online | heise.de | www.heise.de | News | German | November 2019 – present [70] | Blocked |
ABC | abc.es | www.abc.es | News | Spanish | 29 November 2021 – present [71] | Blocked |
Voice of America | voanews.com | www.voanews.com | News | English | Unknown – present [72] | Blocked |
Radio Free Asia | rfa.org | rfa.org | News, broadcasting | Multilingual | Unknown – present [73] [74] | Blocked |
NBC | nbc.com | nbc.com | Broadcasting | English | June 2019 – present [41] | Blocked |
PBworks | pbworks.com | pbworks.com | Sharing | English | January 2011 – present [75] | Blocked |
The Epoch Times | theepochtimes.com | www.theepochtimes.com | News | English | 2003–present [76] | Blocked |
The Epoch Times (Chinese edition) | epochtimes.com | www.epochtimes.com | News | Chinese | 1999–present [76] | Blocked |
HBO | hbo.com | www.hbo.com | Entertainment | English | June 2018 – present [77] | Blocked |
WION | wionews.com | www.wionews.com | News | English | July 2020 – present [78] | Blocked [79] |
Hong Kong Free Press | hongkongfp.com | hongkongfp.com | News | English | November 2015 – present [80] | Blocked |
Apple Daily | hk.appledaily.com | hk.appledaily.com | News | Traditional Chinese (Cantonese) | Unknown – 2021 (closed) | Blocked, [81] closed in 2021 |
TikTok | tiktok.com | www.tiktok.com | Social | Multilingual | June 2020 – present | Blocked [82] |
ChatGPT | openai.com | chat.openai.com api.openai.com |
Artificial Intelligence | Multilingual | 2023–present | Blocked [83] |
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 [84] |
Hugging Face | huggingface.co | huggingface.co | Artificial Intelligence | Multilingual | 2023–present | Blocked [85] |
Flipkart | flipkart.com | www.flipkart.com | Online Shopping | Multilingual | Unknown–present | Blocked |
Zomato | zomato.com | www.zomato.com | Food Service | English | Unknown–present | Blocked |
Swiggy | swiggy.com | www.swiggy.com | Food Service | English | Unknown–present | Blocked |
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But he noted that the archive has been temporarily banned by the Chinese government before, about two years ago. 'There is a motive,' he said. 'They have done it to us in the past. What they are doing is targeting just the Chinese files.'