Facebook is hugely popular almost everywhere in the world, with over 2 billion active users. However, Facebook has been banned in China since 2009. This means people in China can’t use Facebook unless they find ways around the ban.
In this article, we’ll discuss the reason behind its banned & how it impacted the people of the People’s Republic of China, and how you can access it.
Why Facebook was Banned in China?
There are a few reasons why Facebook is banned in China. First, China’s government has a bad reputation for controlling what people see and say online. They censor the internet heavily and control which information spreads.
Second, the government views Facebook as a threat because it’s a place where people can organize protests and complain about the government. Officials worry that activists could use Facebook to help create anti-government movements.
What is the impact of Facebook’s ban in China?
The Facebook ban has been tough for many Chinese people who relied on it to stay connected with friends and family living outside China. Not having access to Facebook has made it much more difficult for them to keep in touch with loved ones abroad.
Many Chinese Facebook users had come to depend on the platform to see updates from and message relatives living overseas. The ban has cut off an important communication channel that helped unite Chinese citizens with their international network of friends and family.
Ways to Access Facebook in China
There are some workarounds for people in China who want to access Facebook even though it’s banned.
One option is a VPN. A VPN stands for “Virtual Private Network.” It encrypts your internet traffic and routes it through a server in another country. This makes it look like you’re accessing the internet from that other country, tricking China’s internet filters and letting you get around the “Great Firewall of China.”
Another option is a proxy server. A proxy server is basically like a middleman between your computer and the internet. Your computer sends its requests to the proxy server, then the proxy server forwards those requests out to the actual web pages you want to access. This also tends to bypass China’s strict internet filters.
Facebook is technically banned in China, but there are ways to circumvent the ban and access Facebook if one is willing to use a VPN or proxy server. A popular solution is NordVPN, which works very well for unblocking Facebook in China.
Future of Facebook in China
Facebook has made a few attempts over the years to operate openly in China, but the Chinese government shut them down each time. Their most recent attempt was in 2018, but the government didn’t allow it for long.
It really seems unlikely that China will ever let Facebook operate freely there. It could only happen if Facebook agreed to store all Chinese user data within China and give the government control over that data. There’s no way Facebook would ever agree to that, so for the foreseeable future, Facebook will remain banned in China.
The Chinese government wants to retain strict control over what information Chinese citizens see online. Allowing Facebook to operate openly in China, with over 1 billion potential users, would threaten that control. So for now at least, China is choosing to keep Facebook out rather than risk losing their grip on internet censorship.
Also Read:- Is Google banned in China?
Conclusion
In conclusion, China’s Facebook ban severely limits freedom of speech in the country. While Facebook may never make it into China, Chinese users miss out by not having access to the platform. The ban highlights the extremes of digital censorship exercised by the Chinese government over its citizens.