Google Confirms YouTube Blocked in China
Google officially confirmed today that YouTube has been blocked in China, from a steep drop in traffic on the evening of March 23 to “near zero” by March 24.
Since March 23, 146 reports of YouTube’s inaccessibility have streamed into Herdict. These reports appear to confirm a national blackout of YouTube, which was unavailable in locales as geographically distant as the educational CERNET network, China Netcom (CNC Group) in Beijing, Shanxi, and Heilongjiang, and China Netcom’s provincial networks in Shanghai, Yunnan, Sichuan, and Guangdong. Herdict users reported across a variety of access points—from school, work, and home.
Herdict also captured 137 accounts of a previous reported block of Youtube beginning on March 4, coinciding with the one-year anniversary of the crackdown on protests in Tibetan regions as well as the 50th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising of 1959.
One video on the Tibetan uprising which may be responsible for the Chinese filters’ block of YouTube
About the Author: Jillian York
Jillian C. York is the Project Coordinator for the OpenNet Initiative and the part of the Herdict team that you should contact if you have any questions about other-language instances of the site or international press. She created most of the textual content on the site, so if you spot something funny, let her know! She's also the face behind the @Herdict Twitter feed.
David:
I am in Shenzhen, China and have not been able to access Blogspot (mine or others) for several days.
Has Blogspot been blocked as Youtube has here in China?
David
May 18th, 2009 at 11:05 pm | | Author Link:
littlemissrock:
Yeah, I live in Shanghai and can’t go on blogspot either. Geez, there are far more controversial politically incorrect websites. Blocking won’t do the trick.
July 2nd, 2009 at 2:12 pm | | Author Link:
suet yi:
yup…me too…i stay a few days at Guangzhou and can’t go in blogspot no matter is mine or others…Izzit really been blocked at China?
July 19th, 2009 at 6:52 am | | Author Link:
GregTrautmann:
Great idea, but will this work over the long run?
July 23rd, 2009 at 5:27 pm | | Author Link: