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YouTube Proxy > YouTube Banned > Republic of China

We're not clear when China first started to block YouTube, but the first reports we could find were in 2007 and we were actually couldn't find any earlier references to China's clumsy attempts at internet censorship. We do know that YouTube were only allowed into China after YouTube agreed to strip out videos containing content relating to the Tiananmen Square protests back in 1989.

In October 2007, Chinese viewers attempting to view the YouTube website were receiving the error message; "The server is taking too long to respond" synomous (in China) with a government ban on a website via the infamous "Great Firewall of China".

There was no official announcement at that time that YouTube was banned in China, but many assumed that it had joined the list of blocked websites including Blogger, Flickr, Wikipedia and many online news portals; including the BBC.

China is reportedly home to the largest number of Internet viewers, with some 300 million users according to government statistics. The chinese government takes (at best) a very paternalistic approach to censorship often posturing that it is protecting its citizens from pornographic content. In practice though, China often moves to block sites discussing, or having content relating to, sensitive issues such as Tibet, which yielded another YouTube ban in 2008.

In 2009, China once again blocked YouTube after a video was displayed apparently showing Chinese soldiers beater Tibetan protestors in 2008. At the same time as the restrictions were imposed, the Chinese government in Tibet claimed that the video was faked by the Dalai Lama Groups and that the horriffic wounds shown in the video were that were fabricated

In that year, the block became more "sophisticated" with YouTube users being re-directed to tudou.com; a video sharing site that is very careful to restrict content that might offend or alarm the powers that be within the upper echelons of the Chinese government. This is despite claims by a Chinese official that; "Many people have a false impression that the Chinese government fears the Internet. In fact it is just the opposite,” according to Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang.

Internet censorship in China is one of the reasons that the team at TubeOxy.com invest resources in our YouTube proxy to ensure open access to the entire internet to all citizens, regardless of your country of origin.

 

If you have any more information to share on the UK YouTube restrcitions, please feel free to contact us by email at marketing@tubeoxy.com.