China has blocked YouTube since 2009 and Iran since 2006, and Russia has slowed it since 2024. Pakistan and Turkey once banned it nationwide but lifted their bans; elsewhere governments target single videos.
Every day we open YouTube 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 YouTube
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.youtube.com, twice, while it opened elsewhere.
“Turned away by the site” means YouTube itself refused visitors from that country.
* First observed on this date: the block may be older. Older results are excluded from current totals.
Background
Where YouTube is restricted, and why
Nationwide YouTube blocks have often followed a single video. China cut it off in March 2009, days after a video appearing to show police beating Tibetan protesters was posted, and the UK government’s travel advice still listed it as permanently blocked in August 2026. Pakistan’s prime minister ordered it blocked in September 2012, when YouTube refused to remove the anti-Islam film Innocence of Muslims; it returned in January 2016 with a local version on which Pakistan’s telecoms authority can ask for material to be blocked.
Iran’s judiciary had YouTube filtered in December 2006, and Freedom House’s 2025 report still found it blocked or filtered. After a near-total shutdown during protests in January 2026, Iran moved to a whitelist that blocks the global internet by default, and Filterwatch reported YouTube reachable only through circumvention tools. Turkey blocked YouTube in March 2014, after leaked audio of officials allegedly discussing military action in Syria spread on it, and lifted the block in June 2014 after the Constitutional Court ruled that it violated rights.
Russia has slowed YouTube without formally banning it. Speeds fell sharply in July 2024, and a senior lawmaker said it was because YouTube ignored Russian law; by October 2024 a Russian court’s fine on Google over YouTube’s restrictions on Russian state media channels had reached two undecillion roubles. In February 2026 youtube.com disappeared from Russia’s national DNS, and courts in Moscow and St Petersburg have since fined internet providers for letting users reach it around the state’s filtering equipment.
Other restrictions are partial or short-lived. India used emergency powers in January 2023 to have YouTube and Twitter take down clips of a BBC documentary about Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Turkey throttled YouTube, X, Instagram and other platforms for 42 hours in March 2025, after the detention of Istanbul’s mayor. And since 10 December 2025 Australians under 16 haven’t been allowed YouTube accounts, though they can still watch while signed out.
Key dates
youtube.com disappears from Russia’s national DNS, the state-run name lookup system that internet providers have to use.
YouTube slows sharply in Russia, and a senior lawmaker says it is because YouTube doesn’t comply with Russian law.
Pakistan lifts the YouTube ban it imposed in September 2012 over Innocence of Muslims, after Google launches a local version.
Turkey blocks YouTube after leaked audio of officials allegedly discussing military action in Syria spreads on it. The block is lifted in June.
China blocks YouTube, days after a video appearing to show police beating Tibetan protesters is posted.
Iran’s judiciary orders internet providers to filter YouTube, along with Amazon, Wikipedia and The New York Times.
Get past a block
YouTube blocked where you are?
A VPN connects you through a server in another country, so a local block on YouTube no longer applies. Where VPNs themselves are blocked, you need one that can disguise its traffic.
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History
Changes for YouTube
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 has blocked YouTube since March 2009 and Iran since December 2006. Russia hasn’t formally banned it but has slowed it since July 2024 and dropped it from its national DNS in February 2026. Pakistan banned it from 2012 to 2016, and Turkey for two months in 2014.
Is YouTube Blocked in Iran?
Iran’s judiciary ordered YouTube filtered in December 2006, and Freedom House’s 2025 report found it still blocked or filtered. After the near-total shutdown of January 2026, Iran moved to a whitelist of approved services, and Filterwatch reported that YouTube could be reached only through circumvention tools.
Is YouTube Banned in Australia?
No, but under-16s can’t have accounts. Australia’s social media minimum age law took effect on 10 December 2025, and YouTube now signs out users under 16, who can still watch videos without logging in. The rule doesn’t affect adults’ accounts.
