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Is it blocked in China? (and Iran, Russia, Turkey, the UAE)
65 of the sites people most often ask about, with their status on the default national network in each country. Last re-checked 2026-09-06.
Site
Status
Domain
Status is for the default national network; hotels, universities and mobile carriers vary. Sources: OONI, GreatFire, NetBlocks, Citizen Lab. Report a change.
Everything on this page runs in your browser. We do not log what you check, and no result — no address, no email, no speed figure — leaves your device. Analytics records that the tool was used, never what it returned. Privacy policy. Tool last reviewed 2026-09-06.
What "blocked" looks like in each country
China operates the most complete system: DNS poisoning, IP blocking and deep packet inspection at the international gateways, applied to essentially every major non-Chinese platform. 52 of the 65 sites here are blocked outright. Iran is close behind, with a national intranet layer that keeps domestic services reachable while most foreign platforms are cut, and periodic total shutdowns during unrest. Russia has moved fastest recently: Roskomnadzor's blocking expanded from news to social platforms in 2022 and to YouTube throttling and VPN protocols in 2024–25. Turkey blocks selectively and temporarily, often around political events, with the Tor Project and some adult sites blocked permanently. The UAE blocks VoIP (FaceTime, Skype, WhatsApp calls), adult and gambling sites, and most VPN provider websites, while leaving social media open.
Why VPN sites themselves are blocked
Every one of these countries blocks the download pages of the major VPN providers, because that is cheaper than blocking the protocols. The practical consequence is on every country guide here: install before you travel, and keep the installer.
Roadmap for this tool
A live checker — enter any domain, get a fresh result from a probe inside each country — needs machines in each country and a cautious approach to what those machines request. That is the next version. This one is honest about being a curated list with a date.
Frequently asked questions
Is Google blocked in China?
Yes, completely: search, Gmail, Maps, Drive, Play and YouTube have all been blocked since 2014 or earlier. Bing and Apple services work. A VPN with obfuscation is the only way to reach Google services from the mainland; see the China guide for which ones currently do.
How do you know what is blocked?
From public measurement projects — OONI, GreatFire, NetBlocks and Citizen Lab reports — cross-checked against user reports, and re-checked on the date shown. We do not yet run our own probes from inside these countries. Status is for the default national network; a hotel, university or mobile carrier can be stricter or looser.
What does "throttled" mean?
Reachable, but deliberately slowed or blocked intermittently. Russia's treatment of YouTube since 2024 is the clearest example: not formally banned, degraded to near-unusability on most fixed-line ISPs.
Can I check a site that is not in the list?
Not from this page yet. A live checker needs probe machines inside each country, which is the next step for this tool. Search the list, and if a site you care about is missing, tell us through the contact page and it will be in the next monthly check.
Which VPNs work in these countries?
Each country guide lists the providers that currently connect and the ones that do not: China, Iran, Russia, Turkey and the UAE. In all five, plain WireGuard and OpenVPN are detected; you need a provider with an obfuscated protocol.
Is it illegal to visit a blocked site?
Blocking and legality are different things. In China, visiting a blocked site is not itself an offence; in the UAE, using a VPN to commit a crime is what the law targets, not the VPN; in Iran, access to blocked content is technically an offence rarely enforced against ordinary users. Each country guide covers the law in detail.