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Censorship Monitor · China Last test

Is YouTube banned in China?

Yes. China has blocked YouTube since March 2009, and the UK government’s travel advice still lists it as permanently blocked. Hong Kong isn’t affected.

Today’s test · www.youtube.com

Blocked

www.youtube.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 YouTube yourself › Everything we test in China

The official status

YouTube in China

YouTube became unreachable in mainland China in March 2009, days after a video appearing to show police beating Tibetan protesters was posted. China never gave a reason, and its foreign ministry said at the time that it knew of no restrictions.

The block has never been lifted. In August 2026 the UK government’s travel advice for China still listed YouTube among the services that are “permanently blocked”.

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

What people use instead

Bilibili, a video site often called the nearest thing China has to YouTube, plus Tencent Video and iQiyi for films and TV shows.

Get past a block

How to use YouTube in China

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

YouTube is also blocked in 2 other countries we test.

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

YouTube 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 YouTube 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.youtube.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

YouTube in China: questions

Does YouTube Work in China?

No. China has blocked YouTube since March 2009, and the UK government’s travel advice still lists it as permanently blocked. Hong Kong isn’t affected.

Can Tourists Watch YouTube in China?

Not over Chinese internet connections. The UK government’s travel advice lists YouTube among the services permanently blocked in China, and says VPNs there must be licensed by the government.

Why Is YouTube Blocked in China?

China has never said. The block began in March 2009, days after a video appearing to show police beating Tibetan protesters was posted; Chinese officials called the video fake.

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/youtube/

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