Top 10 Countries where YouTube is banned

YouTube is a video sharing platform that was founded on February 14, 2005, by former PayPal employees Steve Chan, Jawed Karim and Chad Hurley. YouTube has more than 2.7 billion users and over one billion hours of video content is watched every day on YouTube. However, this popular website is banned in several countries around the globe. Read to find out:-

1. China

YouTube has been inaccessible from mainland China since March 24, 2009.Despite the fact that YouTube is banned in China several Chinese media institutions like CGTN have YouTube accounts. Due to the ban many Chinese users resort to using VPN to access YouTube in China. As per Alexa YouTube is the 5th most searched website in China.



2. North Korea

Julien Pain of the Reporters without borders once described North Korea as the world's worst Internet black hole. Internet is inaccessible in North Korea and only some high ranking officials can access the Internet. However, foreigners are allowed to access internet using the 3G phone network. Since, internet is inaccessible in North Korea there is no way ordinary citizens can access YouTube in North Korea.



3. Iran

Most of the popular social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and Telegram, are banned in Iran. Even the sale of VPNs is banned in Iran since at least 2012.However, users still make use of circumvention tools to access YouTube and other social media sites.



Also Read: South Korea Seeks arrest warrant for it's impeached President 

4. Eritrea

Eritrea is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It is one of the least developed countries in the world with it's human rights record the worst in the world. The Eritrean government has banned several platforms including YouTube to control the flow of information in the country.



5. Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan is a country in Central Asia which became independent in the year 1991 after the fall of the Soviet Union. The country is infamous for it's poor human rights record and it's lack of freedoms. Access to YouTube is blocked in Turkmenistan since 2009 for security reasons.



6. Bangladesh

In a ban which became effective on 2nd August 2024 Bangladesh decided to ban major social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. The ban was linked to the the quota reform protests in Bangladesh which lead to the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina who later on fled to India. 



7. Russia

In 2024 Russian authorities slowed down video playback speeds on YouTube to 128 kb per second. As a result of this speed slowdown traffic on YouTube in Russia has plummeted to 20 percent of the normal levels. This speed slowdown has made YouTube practically inaccessible in Russia.



8.  Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan is a central Asian country which restricted access to YouTube and other social media platforms in 2021 for allegedly violating it's personal data legislation. However, the restrictions were later on withdrawn.



9. Turkey

YouTube has been banned multiples times in Turkey with the most recent ban being in the year 2016.However, it currently remains accessible in Turkey.



10.  Tajikistan

Another central Asian Tajikistan banned YouTube on May 2019.However, the ban was later lifted.





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