Members of the Yale community, particularly students and faculty who are located outside of the United States, may be impacted by their country’s internet accessibility laws and capabilities. In China, there are many websites and applications that are blocked, requiring the use of VPN resources to learn, teach, or work remotely. Even with VPN, not all sites are available and VPN service can be inconsistent. Please be aware of these additional technology limitations experienced by our community. A list of commonly accessed sites that are not available in China, include:

• Social Media, Search Engines, and other Websites, including: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, Wordpress.com, Google Hangouts, Google Play, Whatsapp, Messenger, Google search, Ask.com, yahoo, Youtube, TikTok, Vimeo.  
• News Media Outlets, such as: The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, the Washington Post, many pages within Wikipedia.
• Streaming Platforms, including: Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, BBCiPlay, and others.
• Email Providers, such as: Gmail, Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Calendar (all Google services), Zoom, Dropbox, Slack, and many VPN websites.

The list of blocked sites and applications changes periodically. Test if a site is blocked in China using the Comparitech website and refer to a list of websites blocked in Mainland China on Wikipedia. The Yale University Library also provides helpful guidance on Off-Campus Access to Library E-Resources.