Chinese internet user explains why some US websites are blocked in China

The blocking of Meta, Twitter and YouTube in China dates back to 2009, when the Chinese government demanded data on the organizers of the July 5 Xinjiang attack from those platforms and they refused, citing privacy. From then on, China consolidated the Great Firewall and demanded that US tech companies build data centers in the country and hand over absolute control of content moderation.

The story circulating on Chinese social media holds that the blocking of the major US platforms was neither an ideological whim nor a simple trade barrier. According to this version, it all began with the **July 5, 2009 Xinjiang attack**, when the organizers allegedly used **Meta** and **Twitter** to coordinate the terrorists on the ground. After quelling the attack, China supposedly demanded from those companies the data of the planners. The platforms' refusal, hiding behind user privacy, became the argument that justified the shutdown.

## The demand the tech companies refused

After the ban, the US companies kept eyeing the Chinese market. They wanted back in. China set three conditions: install data centers inside the country, comply with Chinese law by banning content against the government, and leave absolute control of the moderation process in the hands of the State. None of the three was met, and the ban went ahead.

That standoff coincided with the moment when the Chinese internet was taking its first steps. Around **2009**, **Baidu**, **Alibaba** and **Tencent** were young companies, unable to compete with giants like **Meta** or **YouTube**. The story goes that the refusal to hand over the terrorist data gave the government the perfect excuse to close the door and protect its fledgling industry.

## Snowden and the turn of the allies

The circulating version adds a twist: in **2013**, the **Snowden** scandal revealed that US tech companies such as **Apple**, **Google** and **Microsoft** had allegedly provided back doors to the **CIA** to spy on leaders of other countries, including US allies. The very governments that had criticized China for harming internet freedom were portrayed, according to this narrative, as priority targets of US surveillance.

From then on, the story goes, the criticism stopped and some countries began to take an interest in the Chinese model of internet control. Professor **Fang Binxing**, known as the father of the Great Firewall, went from being harshly criticized by Chinese internet users to seeing his decision reinterpreted. The idea that spread: borders on the internet exist, and China was simply the first to put them in writing.

## A firewall that now competes head to head

The text argues that, under the protection of the Great Firewall, Chinese companies outgrew their early stage and now have the strength to compete face to face with the US platforms. It is a claim that is hard to verify in absolute terms, but it fits with the international expansion of companies like **TikTok**, owned by ByteDance, or the weight of **Tencent** in video games and digital services.

The official Chinese version has always maintained that the ban responds to digital sovereignty and national security. The critical version, the one coming from outside, speaks of censorship and market protection. The story circulating on social media mixes both and adds the ingredient of the **2009** attack, an episode that in the West is hardly ever linked to the birth of the Great Firewall. Whether that connection is accurate or a self-serving reconstruction is not something that can be settled with a tweet. What is verifiable is that the ban was consolidated in those years and that the conditions for the platforms' return were never met.