voidly

Internet censorship in China

China (CN) · · Atom

61
Censorship Score
Level
severe
Risk Tier
T1Severe
Trend
− stable
Global Rank
#1
Incidents
59

Overview

China operates the Great Firewall, one of the most sophisticated internet censorship systems globally. Deep packet inspection, DNS poisoning, and IP blocking are used extensively.

Evidence provenance
10 records from 1 source
  • IODA10 (100%)
    ASN-level outage signals + BGP

Every record carries a permalink back to its upstream measurement. Click a source label to drill into the raw data for China.

7-Day Risk Forecast

Predictive AI

Machine learning prediction of censorship risk based on historical patterns and political events. Calibrated 2026-05-20 via isotonic refit on 810 live outcomes. See drivers + similar past events →

Loading forecast...

Multi-horizon shutdown forecast — China

monotonic ok
Next 1 day
22.1%
Next 7 days
35.6%
Next 30 days
95.2%

Honest scope: this is a current-regime risk signal, not a shutdown-onset predictor. It reliably flags countries already in a sustained blocking regime; on the days a new shutdown actually begins its skill is at/below chance (transition-row AUC ~0.33). Why →

ML Intelligence

Atlas models · 2026-05-21

Composite signals from Voidly Atlas's ML model suite — censorship intensity, contagion follow-risk, expected shutdown duration and behavioral peers. Model changelog →

Voidly Score
16.9/ 100
▲ 1.60 vs yesterday
How this is computed →
Expected shutdown duration
~5days
If a critical shutdown occurs · IQR ±108d
Evidence grade mix (59)
A: 45B: 13F: 1
Grading rubric →
Try-first circumvention tool
Generic commercial VPN bootstrap · commercial-vpn-aggregate · 61% probe success (partial)
Full evasion table →
Behaviorally similar countries
IR83%RU80%VN74%

Similarity is behavioral (how a country blocks), not political.

Recent Incidents

10 active
Internet outage in China
May 12
26% anomaly · 1 measurements
Confirmed: internet outage in China
May 3
62% anomaly · 18 measurements
Internet outage in China
Apr 28
22% anomaly · 2 measurements
Internet outage in China
Apr 25
15% anomaly · 2 measurements
Internet outage in China
Apr 24
22% anomaly · 1 measurements
View all 59 incidents →

ISPs in China

Known blocked services

GoogleYouTubeFacebookTwitterWhatsAppWikipediaInstagramTelegram

Recommendations

  • Use Voidly VPN with obfuscation
  • Enable stealth protocols
  • Avoid peak hours for better speeds

Data

Measurements880,281
Blocked count541,311
Block rate61.5%
Last updated2026-05-24
API endpoint/data/country/CN

Protocol breakdown

869K
Web
6K
Telegram
6K
WhatsApp

Frequently asked questions about censorship in China

Q01

Is the internet censored in China?

+
Voidly classifies China as severe (censorship score 61/100, risk tier 1: Severe). China operates the Great Firewall, one of the most sophisticated internet censorship systems globally. Deep packet inspection, DNS poisoning, and IP blocking are used extensively.
Q02

What websites are blocked in China?

+
Recent measurements show blocking or interference for: Google, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Wikipedia, Instagram, Telegram. The block-rate across all measured domains is 61.5% over 880,281 samples. Live per-domain status: https://api.voidly.ai/v1/accessibility/check?domain={domain}&country=CN.
Q03

How does China's censorship compare globally?

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China ranks #1 on the Voidly Global Censorship Index. The current trend is stable — no significant change in block rates.
Q04

What blocking methods are used in China?

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Voidly's pipeline detects DNS poisoning, TCP-RESET, blockpage injection, TLS-RESET / SNI-based blocking, and ASN-level outages. The exact method per domain is in each evidence permalink (https://api.voidly.ai/data/incidents?country=CN). Methodology: https://voidly.ai/methodology.
Q05

How fresh is the data for China?

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Voidly probes China every 5 minutes from 37+ global probe nodes. Upstream OONI, IODA, and CensoredPlanet feeds refresh every 6 hours. The country snapshot was last regenerated 2026-05-24.
Q06

How can I check if a specific website is blocked in China?

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Three options. (1) REST: GET https://api.voidly.ai/v1/accessibility/check?domain=twitter.com&country=CN. (2) MCP: npx @voidly/mcp-server, then call check_domain_blocked with domain="twitter.com" country="CN". (3) CLI: npx @voidly/cli check twitter.com CN. All three return current status, blocking method, and evidence permalinks.
Q07

Can I use a VPN to bypass censorship in China?

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Use Voidly VPN with obfuscation Enable stealth protocols Avoid peak hours for better speeds The full per-country recommendation list is on this page below.
Q08

How do I cite Voidly's data on China in a paper or article?

+
Use the BibTeX or RIS export at https://voidly.ai/cite/CN (also linked from the Citation section below). Permanent incident IDs (e.g., CN-2026-NNNN) are issued for every confirmed event. License: CC BY 4.0 — credit Voidly Research and link back.

Cite this data

Voidly Research. (2026). China Censorship Profile. https://voidly.ai/cn

License: CC BY 4.0 — free to use with attribution.

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