The Blank Page of the Internet: Reddit Finally Blocked in China
Time seems to be up for Reddit (reddit.com), aka "The Front Page of the Internet," which is now inaccessible to users within the confines of China's Great Firewall.
On Saturday, a number of users of the r/China subreddit (reddit.com/r/China) began to report that they were having trouble accessing the site and the app from inside of China. According to the ISP checking site Blocked in China, the website is currently banned throughout the country:
Founded in 2005, Reddit is a popular forum-type website used to discuss almost every topic under the sun, from news (reddit.com/r/worldnews) to malfunctioning animals (reddit.com/r/StoppedWorking), videos (reddit.com/r/videos) to the mildly interesting (reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting). Its popularity lies in its community-driven ethos and all-encompassing topics, with many of the user-created boards or "subreddits" usually striking a more positive, less flame-war heavy tone compared to other platforms for dialogue on the internet.
For now, it's unclear as to why the ban has occurred – the lack of transparency and the mysterious ways of the Party censorship machine means that it could be for anything from dissemination of sensitive information to the fact that the website doesn't adhere to the country's growing internet regulations, such as requiring websites to host their servers in China.
Reddit's accompanying photo hosting website imgur.com has been blocked in China since 2012, which is likely to have extended the website's lifespan given that most of the unseemly content linked to on Reddit wasn't hosted on the site itself. Additionally, Reddit users often noted how the majority of content posted is in English, giving it limited impact on Chinese audiences.
Topics and questions like these were a common occurrence on the r/China Reddit forum
Reddit's ban comes a month after SupChina and What's on Weibo were similarly blocked, rendering them inaccessible to those with a China ISP. They, along with Reddit, now join the plethora of other social media and news sites banned over the past decade by the Chinese government, including Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Google, the New York Times, and many, many more.
Coincidentally, the block comes after a self-styled "low level functionary of the Communist Party" partook in an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on Saturday. The top comment regards internet censorship in China and how it affects browsing Reddit specifically. Answering these types of questions now stands to be a lot more cut and dried.
Image: change.org, Blocked in China, Reddit
Do you have what it takes to be a True Runner?
Scan/Extract the QR code above to check out our current job openings.
Want to know what awesome events are happening in town? Scan/Extract the QR code above to get the list of our Editors' Picks.
Got something to sell? Looking for a job? Or probably your soulmate? Then scan/extract the QR code above to visit our Classified Ads.
Always something fresh
Scan/Extract the QR code above to follow us!
Tap on the cover to access the latest print issue.