Facebook Has Problems in China

China is well known for their aggressive tactics in blocking content online due to heavy censorship policies. Their strategies appear transparent to the end user who simply sees the websites they are trying to access as unavailable. As such it is extremely difficult to detect whether there are actually DNS propagation issues or if Facebook is simply redirecting packets and making it impossible to access a site.

According to the Wall Street Journal though, this issue “affects only a fraction of China’s huge Internet user population.” For those attending the Olympics in Beijing this summer concerns of not accessing Facebook are most likely not substantiated since China claims that “the Internet will be uncensored during the Olympics.” That’s a common strategy used by many communist states: when international visitors come to the country they set things up to make everything appear normal.

Facebook hasn’t complained so far about issues. They instead want to get a piece of the highly competitive Chinese internet market which amounts to a whopping 225 million users, one of the largest in the world. Currently the company has less than half a million people in China according to statistics provided by the company’s SocialAds service. It will be interesting to see if the company runs into any other challenges aside from the highly present competition.

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131244 CommentsFacebook+Has+Problems+in+China2008-07-01+19%3A12%3A04Nick+O%27Neill »

I'm in China and I couldnt access Facebook for a few days now…

Is that China or Facebook itself?

Appears to be the Chinese "Great Firewall" cause i still receive emails from facebook notifications.

Any news about that?

July, 2, 2008

Comment by Gahool — July 1, 2008 @ 9:50 pm
Yup, I'm having lots of problems too…555

Comment by Rob — July 4, 2008 @ 5:10 am
Same here–I’ve tried to get in through anonymizers that usually work, and even then I still can’t get past my home page. So, my guess is it’s China. I’m also out near the earthquake-affected area, so that probably doesn’t help much.

Comment by Catie — July 6, 2008 @ 9:48 am
same here i seems that i can't accesss my facebook now too

still get emails tho

Comment by frank — July 6, 2008 @ 5:09 pm
Same. I’ve tried everything. Two different cities, four different computers, two different browsers, LAN connections, advanced options. Everything. I can’t get on.

Comment by Nina — July 7, 2008 @ 3:27 am
YEah, I’m in China and there has been no getting through for about a week now. WTF? This is crap. Stupid facebook.

Comment by Steve — July 7, 2008 @ 7:38 am
I am getting fed up of trying to get on Facebook. I have to try over and over again and keep getting the same unavailable message or it redirects me to Live search. I managed to log on last night but even then I couldnt get further than the first page as it was so slow. No wonder there are only half a million people using Facebook in China.

Comment by Sharrif — July 14, 2008 @ 7:02 pm
yea that sucks ! can t acces to fb since a week… were is the problem for chinese government ?

Comment by max — July 15, 2008 @ 1:03 am
yea that sucks ! can t acces to fb since a week… were is the problem for chinese government ?

Comment by max — July 15, 2008 @ 5:03 am
im in shanghai right now… i have been using facebook for the past few days with no problem, but now it is not even recognized as a valid site… i'm going to keep trying. i can't live without my facebook.

Comment by larry — July 16, 2008 @ 11:53 pm
im in shanghai right now… i have been using facebook for the past few days with no problem, but now it is not even recognized as a valid site… i’m going to keep trying. i can’t live without my facebook.

Comment by larry — July 17, 2008 @ 3:53 am
We have had problems accessing facebook the entire time spent in China. Problems as in, we can't use facebook!! We arrived in Hong Kong and have travelled up through China to Xi'an and the problem is the same everywhere, we just have given up now. We are going to Beijing but I duoubt it will be any better there!

Comment by Chris — August 1, 2008 @ 12:32 am
We have had problems accessing facebook the entire time spent in China. Problems as in, we can’t use facebook!! We arrived in Hong Kong and have travelled up through China to Xi’an and the problem is the same everywhere, we just have given up now. We are going to Beijing but I duoubt it will be any better there!

Comment by Chris — August 1, 2008 @ 4:32 am
hey chris!I just got to Xi'an today too! yeah, no luck getting on facebook, and when I tried to go on in shanghai earlier, it didn't work either. bummer:(

Comment by Lisa — August 2, 2008 @ 6:35 am
hey chris!

I just got to Xi'an today too! yeah, no luck getting on facebook, and when I tried to go on in shanghai earlier, it didn't work either. bummer:(

Comment by Lisa — August 2, 2008 @ 7:35 am
in beijing, no facebook =(

Comment by Amy — August 6, 2008 @ 4:22 am
in beijing, no facebook =(

Comment by Amy — August 6, 2008 @ 8:22 am
I'm in Shanghai and here facebook doesn't work the half of the time you try to connect.. and the other half it's really slooow.Â¿CuÃ¡l es el objetivo con esto?Nobody knows.

Comment by fluxa — August 10, 2008 @ 2:06 am
I'm in Shanghai and here facebook doesn't work the half of the time you try to connect.. and the other half it's really slooow.

Â¿CuÃ¡l es el objetivo con esto?

Nobody knows.

Comment by fluxa — August 10, 2008 @ 3:06 am
im recieving notifications but cant seem to be getting on to facebook for the past day !! whats going on ??

Comment by anoneymous — July 8, 2009 @ 1:24 am
I had full access to fb here in Beijing until today, and now it gives all the indications that it is blocked; when the Government blocks a site it looks for a long time and then ultimately can't find it, and that is the problem that I'm having now. What's the deal, is this because of Xin Jiang??

Comment by jshrenger — July 8, 2009 @ 6:24 am
guangzhou same problem im dying without the only way of contact that i have with my people in america

Comment by leonardo — July 9, 2009 @ 11:00 am
i am also facing the same problem in Shanghai. How can a great site like facebook allow such things to happen? This is a place where i communicate with most of my friends. I even tried to access facebook using a proxysite but it still doesn't help. Facebook must do something about it immediately in order not to lose their market

Comment by Willie — July 9, 2009 @ 9:12 pm
me too, what can i do now?? it was good last week, but now i am so worried. is that forever????

Comment by sophia — July 10, 2009 @ 9:03 am
im here at beijing, still no facebook here.

Comment by jun — July 11, 2009 @ 1:42 am
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theworldnewser/2009/07/c...

Facebook has been blocked in general in China guys, check out news article. Wahh, I want to go back to Australia now! Neeeeed facebook.

Comment by Charlie B — July 12, 2009 @ 6:18 am
Shanghai = no facebook

Comment by heaven — July 13, 2009 @ 1:54 am
stiil cannot open facebook here in shanghai

Comment by enigma — July 13, 2009 @ 7:20 pm
how about the Hong Kong users ? Any access to FB ?

Comment by siewtiangtan — July 18, 2009 @ 9:38 pm
Ya, I have tried accessing Facebook in both Guangzhou and Shanghai, China and unable to access. I think it started only about 2 weeks ago.

Can someone please do something as Facebook is really the greatest way to find old friends …. I just found all my school friends from more than 20 years ago and so eager to be in contact with them again ! I have not got a chance to get all their email addresses.

Now my situation is like … "found at last but lost again …………" !

I don't know how … by blocking Facebook can change anything on the riots (based on a report that Facebook may be blocked due to the recent riots).

Please someone do something !

Comment by desperately in need — July 19, 2009 @ 2:09 am
i'm from canada now in china traveling and visiting family i need facebook to connect with my friends back home it's driving me insane i haven't been able to talk to them miss them So much! Anyone got any updates on it? Is it blocked Perminnate

Comment by Gia — July 20, 2009 @ 11:16 am
I am in Nanjing same problem no facebook for 2 weeks now Im here fro US and this is how I communicate with my family as well anyone know how long this will last?

I hope it is not perminant

Comment by Magster — July 20, 2009 @ 9:54 pm
beijing no fb, but Hong Kong had…reallyyy suck….unbelievable, how can they disconnect ppl like this?

Comment by Tsats — August 6, 2009 @ 9:44 am
the chinese goverment blocked facebook… well you can use face book if you try this, it works… well, for me ;]

1. go to http://www.fanqiang.org
2. type in http://www.facebook.com
3. press ''continue anyways… ''

4. remember to untick the ''remove scripts'' box at the top

i hope this help >< it may take a bit of time to load… but its better than nothing!! goodluck xD~

Comment by somebody — August 11, 2009 @ 8:14 pm
god im so sorry >< no.3 and no.4 should swap. and one thing to say is you can go to any website that’s block from fanqiang.org, using thesame method D

Comment by somebody — August 12, 2009 @ 12:16 am
nothing to say but it sucks

Comment by pandey — August 13, 2009 @ 6:20 am
I've been trying to load facebook since early July and failed. I'm pretty sure it's due to Chinese internet censorship policy (due to xingjiang crisis), they'd done similar blocking acts in the past for other reasons.

It's extremely unfortunate to have experienced such inconvenience when friends and families overseas lost contact all of the sudden. It's interesting to know that facebook is running normally in Hong Kong though…another reason why I don't think it's facebook own's problem. I think it will really help if facebook reacts asap and provides users in China alternative way(s) to retrieve information sent to their facebook account(s), after all, we're one of their biggest market.

Comment by Yve — August 21, 2009 @ 4:53 am
Now even fanqiang.org doesn’t work for FB. Any other ways to connect to FB, except leaving China? This blocking thing does realy suck so very much!!! Has’t Xinjiang already been to “normal” and they just had this big 60th anniversary?! So why FB is still blocked?!

Comment by Amanda — October 8, 2009 @ 2:52 am
I have just found the Face Book has disabled my account with over 2000 friends and high level gaming applications. I lot of time is now wasted here making friends and building my games. Face Book seems to make rules arbitrarily; and they still own my information, pics, and work even though my account is disabled. This is not democratic but a dictator form of business like all business models. We need a new Face Book for the people of the world whereby someone unknown, and unresponsive, and acting by whims cannot destroy worldwide interactions and speech. This is a new source of impeding Free Speech and controlling the masses. Certainly, the “Powers that Be,” whom own our information and Pics can also monitor them not only for selling to advertisers and making profit, but also to control and manipulate. What militaries are associated with Face Book. And who are Face Books “Friends.” Forgive me, if the reader is not of a free country. But it seems that even Americans are losing freedoms, and the world bows down to oil and money. Now even our friends are controlled and who will regulate the monitors? signed FBS

Comment by Anonymous Please — October 8, 2009 @ 12:48 pm
I think u need a VPN service, but who knows.
In Hong Kong u can use facebook

Comment by jun wen han — November 1, 2009 @ 4:21 am
Hi,

remote desktop works, if the remote desktop is in another country

FB is fully open in Hong Kong

Cheers,

Carl

Hong Kong

Comment by Calle — January 3, 2010 @ 4:31 am
i am fom india i live in foshan nowi also cant acsess facebook here can any 1 tell me how to connect i have lost all my friends contact what to do

Comment by khushal — April 23, 2010 @ 10:03 pm
immediately u classify China as a communist state? Many communist states allow things to be "normal" when they have international visitors… really? wtf is normal?

Comment by guest — May 24, 2011 @ 5:01 am
i study in Beijing, try this one,it works very well!!! http://www.fb.chinoxy.com

Comment by xxx — July 11, 2011 @ 1:41 pm

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL

I'm in China and I couldnt access Facebook for a few days now…

Is that China or Facebook itself?

Appears to be the Chinese "Great Firewall" cause i still receive emails from facebook notifications.

Any news about that?

July, 2, 2008

Comment by Gahool — July 1, 2008 @ 9:50 pm

Yup, I'm having lots of problems too…555

Comment by Rob — July 4, 2008 @ 5:10 am

Same here–I’ve tried to get in through anonymizers that usually work, and even then I still can’t get past my home page. So, my guess is it’s China. I’m also out near the earthquake-affected area, so that probably doesn’t help much.

Comment by Catie — July 6, 2008 @ 9:48 am

same here i seems that i can't accesss my facebook now too

still get emails tho

Comment by frank — July 6, 2008 @ 5:09 pm

Same. I’ve tried everything. Two different cities, four different computers, two different browsers, LAN connections, advanced options. Everything. I can’t get on.

Comment by Nina — July 7, 2008 @ 3:27 am

YEah, I’m in China and there has been no getting through for about a week now. WTF? This is crap. Stupid facebook.

Comment by Steve — July 7, 2008 @ 7:38 am

I am getting fed up of trying to get on Facebook. I have to try over and over again and keep getting the same unavailable message or it redirects me to Live search. I managed to log on last night but even then I couldnt get further than the first page as it was so slow. No wonder there are only half a million people using Facebook in China.

Comment by Sharrif — July 14, 2008 @ 7:02 pm

yea that sucks ! can t acces to fb since a week… were is the problem for chinese government ?

Comment by max — July 15, 2008 @ 1:03 am

Comment by max — July 15, 2008 @ 5:03 am

im in shanghai right now… i have been using facebook for the past few days with no problem, but now it is not even recognized as a valid site… i'm going to keep trying. i can't live without my facebook.

Comment by larry — July 16, 2008 @ 11:53 pm

im in shanghai right now… i have been using facebook for the past few days with no problem, but now it is not even recognized as a valid site… i’m going to keep trying. i can’t live without my facebook.

Comment by larry — July 17, 2008 @ 3:53 am

We have had problems accessing facebook the entire time spent in China. Problems as in, we can't use facebook!! We arrived in Hong Kong and have travelled up through China to Xi'an and the problem is the same everywhere, we just have given up now. We are going to Beijing but I duoubt it will be any better there!

Comment by Chris — August 1, 2008 @ 12:32 am

We have had problems accessing facebook the entire time spent in China. Problems as in, we can’t use facebook!! We arrived in Hong Kong and have travelled up through China to Xi’an and the problem is the same everywhere, we just have given up now. We are going to Beijing but I duoubt it will be any better there!

Comment by Chris — August 1, 2008 @ 4:32 am

hey chris!I just got to Xi'an today too! yeah, no luck getting on facebook, and when I tried to go on in shanghai earlier, it didn't work either. bummer:(

Comment by Lisa — August 2, 2008 @ 6:35 am

hey chris!

I just got to Xi'an today too! yeah, no luck getting on facebook, and when I tried to go on in shanghai earlier, it didn't work either. bummer:(

Comment by Lisa — August 2, 2008 @ 7:35 am

in beijing, no facebook =(

Comment by Amy — August 6, 2008 @ 4:22 am

Comment by Amy — August 6, 2008 @ 8:22 am

I'm in Shanghai and here facebook doesn't work the half of the time you try to connect.. and the other half it's really slooow.Â¿CuÃ¡l es el objetivo con esto?Nobody knows.

Comment by fluxa — August 10, 2008 @ 2:06 am

I'm in Shanghai and here facebook doesn't work the half of the time you try to connect.. and the other half it's really slooow.

Â¿CuÃ¡l es el objetivo con esto?

Nobody knows.

Comment by fluxa — August 10, 2008 @ 3:06 am

im recieving notifications but cant seem to be getting on to facebook for the past day !! whats going on ??

Comment by anoneymous — July 8, 2009 @ 1:24 am

I had full access to fb here in Beijing until today, and now it gives all the indications that it is blocked; when the Government blocks a site it looks for a long time and then ultimately can't find it, and that is the problem that I'm having now. What's the deal, is this because of Xin Jiang??

Comment by jshrenger — July 8, 2009 @ 6:24 am

guangzhou same problem im dying without the only way of contact that i have with my people in america

Comment by leonardo — July 9, 2009 @ 11:00 am

i am also facing the same problem in Shanghai. How can a great site like facebook allow such things to happen? This is a place where i communicate with most of my friends. I even tried to access facebook using a proxysite but it still doesn't help. Facebook must do something about it immediately in order not to lose their market

Comment by Willie — July 9, 2009 @ 9:12 pm

me too, what can i do now?? it was good last week, but now i am so worried. is that forever????

Comment by sophia — July 10, 2009 @ 9:03 am

im here at beijing, still no facebook here.

Comment by jun — July 11, 2009 @ 1:42 am

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theworldnewser/2009/07/c...

Facebook has been blocked in general in China guys, check out news article. Wahh, I want to go back to Australia now! Neeeeed facebook.

Comment by Charlie B — July 12, 2009 @ 6:18 am

Shanghai = no facebook

Comment by heaven — July 13, 2009 @ 1:54 am

stiil cannot open facebook here in shanghai

Comment by enigma — July 13, 2009 @ 7:20 pm

how about the Hong Kong users ? Any access to FB ?

Comment by siewtiangtan — July 18, 2009 @ 9:38 pm

Ya, I have tried accessing Facebook in both Guangzhou and Shanghai, China and unable to access. I think it started only about 2 weeks ago.

Can someone please do something as Facebook is really the greatest way to find old friends …. I just found all my school friends from more than 20 years ago and so eager to be in contact with them again ! I have not got a chance to get all their email addresses.

Now my situation is like … "found at last but lost again …………" !

I don't know how … by blocking Facebook can change anything on the riots (based on a report that Facebook may be blocked due to the recent riots).

Please someone do something !

Comment by desperately in need — July 19, 2009 @ 2:09 am

i'm from canada now in china traveling and visiting family i need facebook to connect with my friends back home it's driving me insane i haven't been able to talk to them miss them So much! Anyone got any updates on it? Is it blocked Perminnate

Comment by Gia — July 20, 2009 @ 11:16 am

I am in Nanjing same problem no facebook for 2 weeks now Im here fro US and this is how I communicate with my family as well anyone know how long this will last?

I hope it is not perminant

Comment by Magster — July 20, 2009 @ 9:54 pm

beijing no fb, but Hong Kong had…reallyyy suck….unbelievable, how can they disconnect ppl like this?

Comment by Tsats — August 6, 2009 @ 9:44 am

the chinese goverment blocked facebook… well you can use face book if you try this, it works… well, for me ;]

1. go to http://www.fanqiang.org
2. type in http://www.facebook.com
3. press ''continue anyways… ''

4. remember to untick the ''remove scripts'' box at the top

i hope this help >< it may take a bit of time to load… but its better than nothing!! goodluck xD~

Comment by somebody — August 11, 2009 @ 8:14 pm

god im so sorry >< no.3 and no.4 should swap. and one thing to say is you can go to any website that’s block from fanqiang.org, using thesame method D

Comment by somebody — August 12, 2009 @ 12:16 am

nothing to say but it sucks

Comment by pandey — August 13, 2009 @ 6:20 am

I've been trying to load facebook since early July and failed. I'm pretty sure it's due to Chinese internet censorship policy (due to xingjiang crisis), they'd done similar blocking acts in the past for other reasons.

It's extremely unfortunate to have experienced such inconvenience when friends and families overseas lost contact all of the sudden. It's interesting to know that facebook is running normally in Hong Kong though…another reason why I don't think it's facebook own's problem. I think it will really help if facebook reacts asap and provides users in China alternative way(s) to retrieve information sent to their facebook account(s), after all, we're one of their biggest market.

Comment by Yve — August 21, 2009 @ 4:53 am

Now even fanqiang.org doesn’t work for FB. Any other ways to connect to FB, except leaving China? This blocking thing does realy suck so very much!!! Has’t Xinjiang already been to “normal” and they just had this big 60th anniversary?! So why FB is still blocked?!

Comment by Amanda — October 8, 2009 @ 2:52 am

I have just found the Face Book has disabled my account with over 2000 friends and high level gaming applications. I lot of time is now wasted here making friends and building my games. Face Book seems to make rules arbitrarily; and they still own my information, pics, and work even though my account is disabled. This is not democratic but a dictator form of business like all business models. We need a new Face Book for the people of the world whereby someone unknown, and unresponsive, and acting by whims cannot destroy worldwide interactions and speech. This is a new source of impeding Free Speech and controlling the masses. Certainly, the “Powers that Be,” whom own our information and Pics can also monitor them not only for selling to advertisers and making profit, but also to control and manipulate. What militaries are associated with Face Book. And who are Face Books “Friends.” Forgive me, if the reader is not of a free country. But it seems that even Americans are losing freedoms, and the world bows down to oil and money. Now even our friends are controlled and who will regulate the monitors? signed FBS

Comment by Anonymous Please — October 8, 2009 @ 12:48 pm

I think u need a VPN service, but who knows.
In Hong Kong u can use facebook

Comment by jun wen han — November 1, 2009 @ 4:21 am

Hi,

remote desktop works, if the remote desktop is in another country

FB is fully open in Hong Kong

Cheers,

Carl

Hong Kong

Comment by Calle — January 3, 2010 @ 4:31 am

i am fom india i live in foshan nowi also cant acsess facebook here can any 1 tell me how to connect i have lost all my friends contact what to do

Comment by khushal — April 23, 2010 @ 10:03 pm

immediately u classify China as a communist state? Many communist states allow things to be "normal" when they have international visitors… really? wtf is normal?

Comment by guest — May 24, 2011 @ 5:01 am

i study in Beijing, try this one,it works very well!!! http://www.fb.chinoxy.com

Comment by xxx — July 11, 2011 @ 1:41 pm

Welcome New Reader!

Facebook Has Problems in China

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Facebook Has Problems in China

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Inside Social Apps 2012 is Less Than Two Weeks Away

131244 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.allfacebook.com%2Ffacebook-has-problems-in-china-2008-07Facebook+Has+Problems+in+China2008-07-01+19%3A12%3A04Nick+O%27Neillhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.allfacebook.com%2F2008%2F07%2Ffacebook-has-problems-in-china%2F »

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Follow AllFacebook

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Social Media Jobs

Let your next job find you!

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Jobs of the Day

3D Artist

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131244 CommentsFacebook+Has+Problems+in+China2008-07-01+19%3A12%3A04Nick+O%27Neill »