Do Instagram and Snapchat work in China? Is the WhatsApp block still in place? Can residents get around these blocks? If you are traveling to China from abroad, can you continue to use your apps even if they are blocked for residents?
China has censored much of the internet through the ‘Great Firewall of China’ and social media has taken the brunt of it. Most of the time, most of the content will be irrelevant to the Chinese because it has nothing or nothing to do with the Chinese market. Sometimes, it affects citizens, as in the case of social media.
Do Instagram, Snapchat and other social networks work in China?
Most of you will have heard that China blocks WhatsApp and Telegram and then tries to block VPNs as well. So which social networks are currently blocked in China?
These networks are currently on the banned list:
- excitement
- Snapchat
- YouTube
- blogspot
- flickr
- Periscope
- Tinder
As you can see, all the big names are here. In addition to social networks, chat applications such as Facebook Messenger, Telegram, WhatsApp and Signal are also blocked. Even Gmail is blocked. If you want to see the full list of current blocked list in China, check this page. As you can see, all our favorites are out there.
One more thing to consider is that China not only censors websites and social networks, but actively monitors what its citizens do online. Now if you think our laws are bad, ISPs can do whatever they want, try living in China and see how you like it!
Why did China censor the internet?
China is not a good place to live or work if you value freedom, and the internet is just one example. But why censor all that information? The general reason given is that the Chinese government wants to promote its worldview, ideas, values and beliefs to its people.
By controlling what people see, hear and learn, a government can shape these people the way it wants. All governments do this to some degree, China is more obvious about it. Censorship reduces the risk of opposition fueled by revolutionary ideas or envy of freedoms enjoyed elsewhere. If people don’t know what’s out there, they won’t miss it. The main difference between the Chinese government and ours is that ours is democratically elected. They know that if they push too fast, they will topple over.
What is the Great Firewall of China?
The Great Firewall of China is clearly a quibble, but technically it’s not one thing but several. The first is a technical barrier, a set of firewalls that all ISPs in China must connect to. It’s like a normal firewall that looks at all traffic going in and out of the internet backbone and lets it pass or block it depending on what it’s programmed to do.
There is also the ‘Internet Police’, a 70,000-person government agency whose job is to monitor what people do on the internet and which sites should be blocked. This combined approach seems to be quite effective at censoring what Chinese people can see on the internet.
If you want an in-depth look at how it all works, this article on The Strategist is where you should go. If you read it, you will see how much effort China put into its censorship program.
Bypassing censorship in China
The main way to circumvent censorship in China is to use a VPN. Unfortunately, the Chinese government knows this and has been steadily throttling VPN usage in the country. If you are planning to visit China or have to work in China for a while, using a VPN will be the only way to communicate with some of your favorite websites.
The most important thing to do is to set up and pay for your VPN before you go to China. Most VPN websites and even iTunes and Google Play Store are blocked, so it will be difficult to get hold of a VPN while inside the Great Firewall of China.
The list of working VPNs changes regularly as the government cracks down on them while VPN providers stay one step ahead. Check out this page to find out which VPNs work and which don’t. This website is also regularly updated to show which VPNs are working in China and which are not. Sign up for one that offers a free trial to make sure the speed is acceptable as well as the access.
