Facebook has been blocked in China and Iran since 2009 and in Russia since 2022, and Uganda, Myanmar, North Korea and Turkmenistan have blocked it for years. Others have cut it off for days, as Nepal did in September 2025.
By the vpnAlert team · Background checked on 23 Oct 2026 · Tested every day since 29 Sep 2026 ·
How we test · Report a wrong result
Every day we open Facebook from inside 24 countries, mostly over home broadband, and record
where it’s blocked, since when and how.
3 of 24tested countries with a confirmed block of Facebook
Facebook is blocked in China, Iran and Russia. 24 of 24 results confirmed in the last 48 hours.
Blocked means the networks we test there failed to open www.facebook.com, twice, while it opened elsewhere.
“Turned away by the site” means Facebook itself refused visitors from that country.
“In our tests since” is when our own tests first showed the result, not when a ban began: where it reads “our first test”, the block may be older. Older results are excluded from current totals.
Outside the countries we test
Where else Facebook is banned
Our daily test covers 24 countries. These are the other places where governments block or restrict Facebook, or did until recently, from dated reports; North Korea is listed because ordinary users there can’t reach the global internet at all.
Gabon. Media regulator suspended social media “until further notice” in February 2026, citing false information and cyberbullying.
Myanmar. Military ordered it blocked on 3 February 2021, two days after seizing power.
Uganda. Blocked days before the January 2021 election; officials say it stays off until Facebook meets conditions.
North Korea. Announced a block on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter in April 2016; few citizens can reach the global internet.
Long-standingTurkmenistan. Blocked with most foreign social networks; the state controls almost all internet access.
Nepal (lifted September 2025). Blocked with 25 other unregistered platforms; restored days later after deadly protests.
Papua New Guinea (lifted March 2025). Cut off for two days in March 2025, first called a test, then a counter-terrorism measure.
South Sudan (lifted January 2025). Regulator suspended it over videos of alleged killings of South Sudanese in Sudan; lifted after five days.
Ethiopia (lifted July 2023). Blocked with Telegram, TikTok and YouTube amid tensions over an Orthodox Church split; restored after five months.
China blocked Facebook in July 2009, during a crackdown that followed deadly riots in Ürümqi, Xinjiang, and Freedom House still listed it among the platforms blocked there in 2024. Iran blocked it the same year, during the protests over the disputed presidential election, and kept it blocked when it decided to lift its bans on WhatsApp and Google Play in December 2024. North Korea announced a block in April 2016, and Turkmenistan bans most Western social networks.
Some Facebook blocks are aimed at the company itself. Russia blocked it on 4 March 2022, saying Facebook had restricted Russian media outlets’ accounts, and a Moscow court banned Meta’s Facebook and Instagram as “extremist” on 21 March. Uganda cut Facebook off in January 2021, days before a presidential election, after it removed accounts linked to the government. In March 2026 the ICT minister of state said the suspension would last until Facebook met the government’s conditions.
Myanmar’s military ordered Facebook blocked on 3 February 2021, days after seizing power, and from May 2021 limited mobile users to a list of approved sites that left it out. Short blocks often come with unrest: Nepal blocked Facebook and 25 other platforms in September 2025 for not registering with the government, then lifted the ban days later after 19 people were killed in protests. In February 2026 Gabon’s media regulator suspended social media “until further notice”.
Facebook’s missing news in Canada is Meta’s own choice, not a government block. Since August 2023 people there haven’t been able to view or share news on Facebook and Instagram: Meta removed it in response to the Online News Act, which requires platforms to pay news publishers for their content. In January 2026 the culture minister’s office said talks with Meta about bringing news back were under way, though the minister called them “very preliminary”.
Key dates
Uganda’s ICT minister of state says Facebook, blocked since January 2021, stays suspended until it meets the government’s conditions.
Gabon’s media regulator suspends social media “until further notice”, and Facebook is among the platforms cut off.
Nepal blocks Facebook and 25 other platforms that hadn’t registered with the government, then lifts the ban after deadly protests.
Meta starts removing news from Facebook and Instagram for people in Canada, in response to the Online News Act.
Russia blocks Facebook over its restrictions on Russian media accounts; a Moscow court bans it as “extremist” on 21 March.
China blocks Facebook during a crackdown after deadly riots in Ürümqi, Xinjiang.
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History
Changes for Facebook
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
Test machines on the two biggest home-internet providers in most countries open the homepage every day.
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 websites, mostly over home broadband. Apps, calls and mobile networks can behave differently.
China and Iran have blocked Facebook since 2009, North Korea since 2016 and Russia since March 2022. Uganda has kept it blocked since January 2021, Myanmar’s military ordered it blocked in February 2021, and Turkmenistan bans most Western social networks. Others, such as Nepal in September 2025, have cut it off for days.
Why Is Facebook Blocked in China?
It was blocked in July 2009, during a government crackdown on activists after deadly riots in Ürümqi, Xinjiang, when the authorities moved to restrict what people could see online. It has stayed blocked since: Freedom House’s 2024 report lists Facebook among the international platforms blocked in China.
Why Can’t I See News on Facebook in Canada?
Meta removed it. Since August 2023 people in Canada can’t view or share news articles or news outlets’ posts on Facebook and Instagram, Meta’s response to the Online News Act, which requires platforms to pay news publishers. In January 2026 Ottawa said early talks about bringing news back were under way.
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Cite these results
Quote or republish today’s results with a link to this page: the monitor’s data is under a Creative Commons
Attribution licence (CC BY 4.0).
Sentence to quote
As of 13 Nov 2026, www.facebook.com is blocked in 3 of the 24 countries in the vpnAlert Censorship Monitor’s daily test: China, Iran and Russia.
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Source: vpnAlert Censorship Monitor, test of 13 Nov 2026, https://vpnalert.com/tools/censorship-monitor/facebook/ (CC BY 4.0)
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vpnAlert. (2026, November 13). Where is Facebook banned? vpnAlert Censorship Monitor. https://vpnalert.com/tools/censorship-monitor/facebook/
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“Where is Facebook banned?” vpnAlert Censorship Monitor, vpnAlert, 13 Nov 2026, vpnalert.com/tools/censorship-monitor/facebook/.
Chicago
“Where is Facebook banned?” vpnAlert Censorship Monitor, test of November 13, 2026, https://vpnalert.com/tools/censorship-monitor/facebook/.
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{{cite web |url=https://vpnalert.com/tools/censorship-monitor/facebook/ |title=Where is Facebook banned? |website=vpnAlert Censorship Monitor |publisher=vpnAlert |date=2026-11-13 |access-date=2026-11-13}}
