Is Reddit blocked in China?

No, Reddit is not blocked in China as of time of writing, but it has been blocked intermittently in the past.

Reddit never seemed to catch on among Chinese users, so it wasn’t blocked like many of the other western apps and websites where politics are debated and the content is mostly user generated. Because it’s not popular, it is not perceived as a threat.

Tip: although Reddit isn’t banned many of the most popular sites including Google and Facebook are. To access them you will need a VPN.

On the few occasions Reddit was temporarily blocked in China, the reasons were unclear. The last reported outage was June 26, 2015. Sometimes a temporary ban lasts for a few hours, and sometimes a days. There’s really no rhyme or reason that’s clear to an average user.

One could surmise that some information deemed harmful to Communist Party rule in the country surfaced on the site, but the Chinese government isn’t exactly posting transparent notices about why it decides to block some sites and not others.

How to unblock Reddit in China

If you’re an avid redditor and are planning a trip to China, you may want to get a VPN beforehand. Just because reddit isn’t blocked today doesn’t mean it won’t be blocked tomorrow.

The easiest way to access Reddit, and any other website censored in China, is to use a VPN. A VPN, or virtual private network, encrypts all of a device’s internet traffic and routes it through a server in a remote location of the user’s choosing. In this case, you would simply use a VPN to connect to a server in a country where reddit is not blocked.

VPNs normally require a paid subscription to use. A reputable VPN will not impose neither data caps nor bandwidth limits. It should offer strong security, no traffic logs, and plenty of servers to choose from.

Note, however, that some VPN services and their websites are blocked in China as well. Check out our list of the best VPNs for China to see the most reliable options.

Our top recommendation is ExpressVPN, which offers servers in 78 countries, fast speeds, and an easy-to-use app. Once you’ve signed up, simply download and install the software, log in, and connect to a server outside of China. Once the connection is established, you can freely surf Reddit threads as usual.