6 Apps & Websites Blocked By China As Part Of The Countrys Internet Censorship Policy – MensXP.com

China has a very strict Internet censorship policy, better known as the Great Firewall of China, that prevents the countrys citizens from accessing global websites and applications.

While users can still access some of these websites and apps by using VPNs; it is not accessible by the general public. Some of these websites are popular social networking platforms we use daily and some include news and media websites.

The Great Firewall of China is a combination of legislative actions and technologies enforced by the Chinese government that tracks and censors all forms of domestic internet.

Briefing

The Great Firewall also control which keywords can be searched and blocked popular memes like the Winnie The Pooh when internet users compared the Chinese President, Xi Jinping to the popular cartoon bear.

Due to the Firewall, many Chinese alternatives such as Baidu, Weibo and others have become successful that filled the void for these popular social media websites.

Heres a list of every website that Chinas Great Firewall has blocked in the country:

From Google services to YouTube to the basic search engine website, everything has been blocked by China since 2010 and still remains inaccessible to date. One cant even access Google Maps in the country if you are visiting and has to rely on the local GPS services.

The country banned Google and its products in a move likely to control the content. The Chinese authorities blocked more websites as the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre approached and hasnt changed since then.

Unsplash/konkarampelas

Facebook was blocked in China in 2009 as Xinjiang independence activists used Facebook as a part of their communications network to stage protests in the country.

In order to get unbanned, Facebook is now working on a censorship project for China. The website will allow a third party to control and regulate content on Facebook that will help the social media website do business in China again. Other apps owned by Facebook like WhatsApp have also been banned to prevent the spread of information in the country.

Wikipedia was blocked by China in early 2004 ahead of the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. The website was later restored without political articles, however, all versions of the website were permanently banned in April 2019.

The website hosts content surrounding Taiwans independence that seemed objectionable by the Chinese Government.

Unsplash/lukevz

Instagram was blocked by Chinese authorities when images of the Umbrella Revolution going on in Hong Kong started to appear on the platform.

The Chinese Government feared the pro-democracy posts on the platform regarding the Hong Kong protests would influence sentiments in the mainland as well.

Unsplash/Yucel Moran

Twitter has been blocked in the country since 2009 and resulted in the launch of Weibo as an alternative. There have been cases in the past where Chinese citizens have been sentenced to one year in a labour camp for retweeting content deemed objectionable by the Chinese authorities.

Washington Post also reported in 2019 that state security officials would visit its users in China and order them to delete tweets or entire accounts.

Unsplash/Sushioutlaw

Media websites like The New York Times, Washington Post, HuffPost, The Guardian, Daily Mail, amongst many others, have also been banned in the country. The websites have been banned to prevent Chinese citizens from reading any news that is critical of China and its policies.

These are only some of the websites that have been blocked by Chinese authorities, however, there are plenty more that you can check out in its entirety here.

Photo: Unsplash/konkarampelas (Main Image)

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6 Apps & Websites Blocked By China As Part Of The Countrys Internet Censorship Policy - MensXP.com