China has completely blocked the all major websites in its country’s mainland. If you are in china then you can neither access any international news websites nor any social media like Facebook, Twitter etc. because China has banned all the international websites including major search engines, social media, News website, Video streaming platform & many more.
Chinese government has crack down all the press freedom in its mainland. As China is now emerging as one of the world’s powerful nations but in the internet age, Many Chinese citizens don’t have proper access of information.
The Chinese government had issued its first white paper on the internet in May 2010 that focused on the concept of “internet sovereignty,” requiring all internet users in China, including foreign organizations and individuals, to abide by Chinese laws and regulations.
China internet companies now have to sign “Public Pledge of Self-Regulation and Professional Ethics for China Internet Industry” which has more stricter rules than that of White Paper.
According to Freedom House report “China was once again the worst abuser of internet freedom in 2018 for the second consecutive year out of sixty-five countries that represent 88 percent of the world’s internet users.”
Here is the list of websites which have been blocked by China :
Social Sites:
The world’s biggest social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are blocked in China.
- Snapchat
- Google+
- Quora
- Tumblr
- Badoo
- Disqus
In January 2015, China issued a 22 pages new cyber security regulations which forces technology firms to submit its source code, undergo rigorous inspections, and adopt Chinese encryption algorithms before starting the business in China.
Search Engines
- Amazon (Alexa)
- Yahoo
- Duck Duck Go
- StartPage
Video/Audio streaming Platforms
- YouTube
- Daily Motion
- Vimeo
- Twitch
- Periscope
- Pandora
- Spotify
- Sound cloud
- Usstream.tv
News Websites
The France-based watchdog group Reporters Without Borders ranked China 177 out of 180 countries in its 2019 worldwide index of press freedom. According to the report, President Xi Jinping has succeeded in imposing a social model in China based on control of news and information and online surveillance of its citizens by using massive technology.
- New York Times
- BBC
- Bloomberg
- Daily Mail (UK)
- Financial Times
- Wall Street Journal
- Reuters
- CNN
- TIME
- The Economist
- Radio free Asia
- Hong Kong free Press
- Huffpost
- CNBC
- The Washington Post
- The Guardian
- Al-jazeera
- South China Morning Post
- The Initium
- Radio Free Europe
- ABC News Australia
- Yomiuri (Japan)
- The Epoch Times
- The Tibet Post
Xi Jinping, Chinese President says, “All the work by the party’s media must reflect the party’s will.” Famous websites like Wikipedia, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and some Google service are fully blocked because Government seems those websites are potentially dangerous.
Messaging Apps
- Facebook Messenger
- Telegram
- Line
- Signal
- KaKao Talk (Korean)
Blogging sites
- Blogspot
- WordPress
- Medium
- FC2 (Japan)
Cloud Storage & Productivity
- Dropbox
- Google Drive
- Microsoft One Drive
- Google Docs
- Mega
- Scribd
- Isohunt
Email: In late 2014, China banned Google’s email service Gmail.
- Gmail
Entertainment
- HBO
- The Pirate Bay
NGO’s Websites
- Wikileaks
- Amnesty International
Other Apps & Websites
- Wikipedia
- Hootsuite
- Archive.org
- Jehovah’s Witnesses (Religious website)
- Slide Share
- change.org