--- description: Some Chinese newspapers have shown no mention of the protests, and China blocked photo-sharing app, Instagram, Sunday. title: China's Citizens May Be In The Dark About Hong Kong Protests image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb374f013734d4ca5/6986a606cd804daab3ccd0df/hong-kong-protest-11.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # China Keeps Citizens in the Dark Over Hong Kong Protests by [TIME Video](/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 29, 2014 7:20 PM CUT  Pro-democracy demonstrators hold up their mobile phones during a protest near the Hong Kong government headquarters on Sept. 29, 2014. Pro-democracy demonstrators hold up their mobile phones during a protest near the Hong Kong government headquarters on Sept. 29, 2014.Dale De La Rey—AFP/Getty Images by [TIME Video](/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 29, 2014 7:20 PM CUT China is well known for its censoring social media and certain websites when there’s news it wants to block out — and now that Hong Kong is [ablaze with protests](http://time.com/3445146/occupy-hong-kong-democracy-protests-chan-kin-man/ "undefined"), the shutters have come down again. Some Chinese newspapers have made no mention of the protests, and the countries authorities blocked photo-sharing app Instagram on Sunday, according to [_CNN._](http://edition.cnn.com/2014/09/29/world/asia/china-censorship-hong-kong/ "undefined") China even blacked out a live _CNN_ newscast about the protests as host Anderson Cooper narrated. “In the past, they’ve censored us, and it’s gone to black. They might do it again. They might censor us again tonight,” he said, seconds before authorities cut the stream off. “And, we’ve just gone to black in China,” he finished. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3446007/china-hong-kong-blackout/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3446007/china-hong-kong-blackout/"},"headline":"China Keeps Citizens in the Dark Over Hong Kong Protests","datePublished":"2014-09-29T19:20:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:28:24.903Z","description":"The government blocked Instagram Sunday","url":"https://time.com/3446007/china-hong-kong-blackout/","keywords":["Hong Kong topic","China","protests","Instagram","democracy","Censorship"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb374f013734d4ca5/6986a606cd804daab3ccd0df/hong-kong-protest-11.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Video","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-video/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb374f013734d4ca5/6986a606cd804daab3ccd0df/hong-kong-protest-11.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"HONG KONG-CHINA-POLITICS-DEMOCRACY","caption":"HONG KONG-CHINA-POLITICS-DEMOCRACY","creditText":"Dale De La Rey—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3446007/china-hong-kong-blackout/","name":"China Keeps Citizens in the Dark Over Hong Kong Protests"}}]}] ```