--- description: Wikipedia joins a growing list of websites, including Facebook and Google, that cannot be accessed in China title: Wikipedia Is Now Banned in China in All Languages image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt84e45adf51c4f63c/698949ece76ad28a05634aa1/wikipedia-banned-china.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [China](/tag/china/) ## China Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Wikipedia Is Now Banned in China in All Languages by [Hillary Leung](/author/hillary-leung/) ## Hillary Leung Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 15, 2019 4:37 AM CUT  An error message for the blocked Wikipedia website page is seen on a computer screen on March 23, 2018. An error message for the blocked Wikipedia website page is seen on a computer screen on March 23, 2018.Chris McGrath—Getty Images by [Hillary Leung](/author/hillary-leung/) ## Hillary Leung Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 15, 2019 4:37 AM CUT China [has expanded its ban](https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-48269608 "undefined") on Wikipedia to block the community-edited online encyclopedia in all available languages, the BBC reports. An earlier enforced ban barred Internet users from viewing the Chinese version, as well as the pages for [sensitive search terms](https://en.greatfire.org/search/wikipedia-pages "undefined") such as Dalai Lama and the Tiananmen massacre. [According to](https://ooni.torproject.org/post/2019-china-wikipedia-blocking/ "undefined") Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI), an internet censorship research group, the block has been in place since late April. The Wikimedia foundation said in a statement that it did not receive any notice of the censorship. Wikipedia joins a growing list of websites that cannot be accessed in China, which in recent years has tightened its grip on access to information online. Google, Facebook and LinkedIn are [among the sites](http://time.com/2820452/china-censor-web/ "undefined") already banned, forcing Internet users to use virtual private networks, or VPN, to bypass what has become known as the “Great Firewall” of China. Reporters Without Border’s 2019 [World Press Freedom index](http://time.com/5572179/reporters-without-borders-rsf-world-press-freedom-2019/ "undefined") ranks China at 177 on a list of 180 countries analyzed. According to a separate study conducted by the watchdog group, China is not just issuing censorships locally, but is also attempting to [infiltrate foreign media](http://time.com/5557951/china-interference-global-media/ "undefined") in an attempt to deter criticism and spread propaganda. Wikipedia is [also blocked](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/29/turkey-blocks-wikipedia-under-law-designed-to-protect-national-security "undefined") in Turkey. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5589439/china-wikipedia-online-censorship/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5589439/china-wikipedia-online-censorship/"},"headline":"Wikipedia Is Now Banned in China in All Languages","datePublished":"2019-05-15T04:37:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T23:31:32.100Z","description":"Wikipedia joins a growing list of websites, including Facebook and Google, that cannot be accessed in China","url":"https://time.com/5589439/china-wikipedia-online-censorship/","keywords":["China","onetime","overnight"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt84e45adf51c4f63c/698949ece76ad28a05634aa1/wikipedia-banned-china.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Hillary Leung","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/hillary-leung/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt84e45adf51c4f63c/698949ece76ad28a05634aa1/wikipedia-banned-china.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"wikipedia banned in china","caption":"wikipedia banned in china","creditText":"Chris McGrath—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":"/tag/china/","name":"China"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5589439/china-wikipedia-online-censorship/","name":"Wikipedia Is Now Banned in China in All Languages"}}]}] ```