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Censorship Monitor · China Last test

Does Snapchat work in China?

No. Snapchat is blocked in mainland China and doesn’t work on Chinese internet connections without a VPN. Hong Kong isn’t affected.

Today’s test · www.snapchat.com

Blocked

www.snapchat.com fails to open on China Unicom and China Mobile, twice, while it opens from other countries.

Last confirmed
Seen in our tests since
29 Sep 2026 (may be older)
How it fails
The connection never completes
Tested on
China Unicom and China Mobile
Test Snapchat yourself › Everything we test in China

The official status

Snapchat in China

Snapchat is among the foreign social apps China’s internet censors block. Freedom House’s 2024 report lists it with the international platforms blocked in China, and independent tests from inside China still found snapchat.com blocked in September 2026.

When the block began isn’t clear. Snap said in 2017 that it didn’t know whether it could ever enter the Chinese market on terms the government would accept.

Hong Kong is outside the mainland’s censorship system, so the block doesn’t apply there.

What people use instead

WeChat and other Chinese apps, which grew as foreign platforms were blocked.

Get past a block

How to use Snapchat in China

A VPN connects you through a server in another country, so a block on Snapchat in China no longer applies. Where VPNs themselves are blocked, you need one that can disguise its traffic, and you should set it up before you travel.

Only government-approved VPNs are legal in China, and most foreign VPNs are blocked.

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Around the world

Where else is Snapchat blocked?

Snapchat is also blocked in 2 other countries we test.

It opens in 21 of the 23 other countries with a current result.

Snapchat in every country we test ›

China

What else is blocked in China?

52 of the other 66 sites and apps we test are blocked in China.

All 67 results for China ›

History

Changes for Snapchat in China

No confirmed changes since monitoring began on 29 Sep 2026. When a block appears or lifts, and a re-check on several machines agrees, it shows up here.

Method

How we test

  • Every day, test machines on China Unicom and China Mobile home connections open www.snapchat.com.
  • A failure counts only when it happens twice on the same network, while the site opens from other countries.
  • A change is published only after re-checks a few hours later and again the next day, on several machines per provider, confirm it. It’s dated from the first sighting.
  • Test machines caught getting around blocks, through a VPN or a filter-dodging tool, are set aside.
  • We test the website over home broadband. The app, calls and mobile networks can behave differently.

Full method ›

Questions

Snapchat in China: questions

Is Snapchat Banned in China?

Yes. Snapchat is blocked in mainland China and doesn’t work on Chinese internet connections without a VPN. Hong Kong isn’t affected.

Does Snapchat Work in Hong Kong?

Yes. The mainland’s block doesn’t cover Hong Kong: Freedom House says the mainland’s internet censorship system doesn’t yet apply there.

Why Isn’t Snapchat Available in China?

It’s blocked, like most foreign social apps. Snap said in 2017 that Google, which ran its servers, was restricted in China, and that it didn’t know if it could enter the market on terms the government would accept.

Free to use

Cite this result

Quote or republish today’s result with a link to this page: the monitor’s data is under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC BY 4.0).

Source: vpnAlert Censorship Monitor, https://vpnalert.com/tools/censorship-monitor/china/snapchat/

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