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Censorship Monitor · China Last test

Does Telegram work in China?

No. China has blocked Telegram since July 2015, and it doesn’t work on Chinese internet connections without a VPN. Hong Kong isn’t affected.

Today’s test · telegram.org

Blocked

telegram.org 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 Telegram yourself › Everything we test in China

The official status

Telegram in China

Telegram was blocked in mainland China in July 2015, a day after the state-run People’s Daily accused it of helping human rights lawyers attack the Communist Party and the government.

In April 2024 it also disappeared from Apple’s China App Store; Freedom House says the Cyberspace Administration of China ordered the removal.

Hong Kong is outside the mainland’s censorship system, and protesters there relied on Telegram in 2019.

What people use instead

WeChat, the Chinese messaging app that grew as foreign apps were blocked.

Get past a block

How to use Telegram in China

A VPN connects you through a server in another country, so a block on Telegram 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 Telegram blocked?

Telegram is also blocked in 3 other countries we test.

It opens in 20 of the 23 other countries with a current result.

Telegram 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 Telegram 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 telegram.org.
  • 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

Telegram in China: questions

Is Telegram Banned in China?

Yes. China has blocked Telegram since July 2015, and it doesn’t work on Chinese internet connections without a VPN. Hong Kong isn’t affected.

Why Is Telegram Blocked in China?

The block was first reported on 13 July 2015, a day after the state-run People’s Daily accused Telegram of helping human rights lawyers attack the Communist Party and the government, during a crackdown on lawyers.

Does Telegram Work in Hong Kong?

Yes. The mainland’s block doesn’t cover Hong Kong, and protesters there relied on Telegram in 2019.

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/telegram/

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