Twitter has been subjected toInternet censorship by governments and other authorities which may take unilateral action to block Internet access to Twitter or its content. The social media platform is currently blocked inChina,Iran,Myanmar,North Korea,Russia, andTurkmenistan.
Twitter isofficially blocked in China; however, many Chinese people circumvent the block to use it.[1] Even major Chinese companies and national medias, such asHuawei andCCTV, use Twitter through a government-approvedVPN.[2][3] The official account ofChina's Ministry of Foreign Affairs started tweeting in English in December 2019; meanwhile, Chinese diplomats, embassies and consulates maintained 55 identified accounts on Twitter as of 2019, with over half having been established within the year alone.[4]
In 2010,Cheng Jianping was sentenced to one year in a labor camp for "retweeting" a comment that suggested boycotters of Japanese products should instead attack the Japanese pavilion atExpo 2010. Her fiancé, who posted the initial comment, claims it was actually a satire ofanti-Japanese sentiment in China.[5]
According to aWashington Post report, in 2019, state security officials visited some users in China to request them to delete certain tweets.[6] The Chinese police would produce printouts of tweets and advise users to delete either the specific messages or their entire accounts. The New York Times described the process as "unusually broad and punitive". The targets of the crackdown even included lurkers on the platform with very few followers.[7] In 2019, a Chinese student at theUniversity of Minnesota was arrested and sentenced to six months in prison when he returned to China, for posting tweets mocking Chineseparamount leaderXi Jinping while in the US.[8]
On July 3, 2020, Twitter announced that all data and information requests for Hong Kong authorities were immediately paused after theHong Kong national security law, which was imposed by the Chinese government, went into effect.[9] According to the official verdicts as of 2020, at least hundreds of Chinese were sentenced to prison for using Twitter to like, post or share tweets.[10] According to the documents obtained by the New York Times in 2021, Shanghai police were trying to use technology means to find out the true identities of Chinese users of specific accounts on foreign social media, including Twitter.[11] In 2022,Peiter Zatko, Twitter's former head of security, accused Twitter of accepting funding from unnamed "Chinese entities", which gave them access to the information of users in China, and Twitter knew that could endanger these users.[12] Zatko also disclosed that FBI notified Twitter of at least one Chinese agent in the company.[13]
During the2009 Iranian presidential election, the Iranian government blocked Twitter due to fear of protests being organised.[14] In September 2013, the blocking of both Twitter and Facebook was briefly lifted without notice due to a technical error, but within a day the websites were blocked again.[15]
On February 5, 2021, the militaryState Administration Council, which assumed power following acoup d'état, ordered mobile and Internet providers to block Twitter and Instagram in the country, after a similar censorship measure was imposed on Facebook.[16][17] A spokesperson for Twitter subsequently said that the company would "continue to advocate to end destructive government-led shutdowns".[17]
In April 2016, North Korea started to block Twitter "in a move underscoring its concern with the spread of online information".[18] Anyone who tries to access it without special permission from the North Korean government, including foreign visitors and residents, is subject to punishment.[18]
On February 26, 2022, during theinvasion of Ukraine, Russia began restricting access to Twitter, with global internet monitorNetBlocks observing that the censorship measure was in effect "across multiple providers."[19][20] Despite direct connections being restricted, Russians could still access Twitter via VPN services.[21] The decision was subsequently announced byRoskomnadzor as a measure to curtail information on Twitter andFacebook that did not align with thegovernment of Russia's positions.[22]
As of 2018[update], foreign news and opposition websites are blocked inTurkmenistan, and international social networks such as Twitter are "often inaccessible".[23][24]
On August 30, 2024, BrazilianSupreme Federal Court justiceAlexandre de Moraes ordered internet service providers (ISPs) to block Twitter after its owner,Elon Musk, did not appoint a legal representative in Brazil as required by local regulations.[25] This decision followed a dispute originating from Moraes' earlier requests to suspend Twitter accounts linked to alleged misinformation regarding the2023 Brazilian Congress attack. Musk restored these accounts, arguing they were protected under free speech principles, and expressed concerns about the scope of the judicial orders.[26] Moraes responded by imposing a daily fine ofR$50,000 (US$9,000) on Brazilian users accessing Twitter viavirtual private network (VPN), and initially directed Apple'sApp Store and Google'sPlay Store to remove VPN apps, a directive that was later withdrawn.
Various stakeholders raised concerns about the implications of the block.[citation needed] PresidentLuiz Inácio Lula da Silva supported the court's decision, stating that Brazilian laws apply uniformly, while Musk described it as a challenge to platform operations and democratic principles.[27]
On September 18, 2024, Twitter briefly became accessible in Brazil due to traffic rerouting viaCloudflare, which the company attributed to a temporary configuration change; some interpreted this as a strategic response.[28]
In late September 2024, Twitter complied by paying approximately US$5.2 million in fines and appointing a legal representative in Brazil. As a result, on October 8, 2024, the Supreme Federal Court lifted the ban, allowing Twitter to resume operations nationwide.[29][30]
Twitter was inaccessible inEgypt on January 25, 2011, during the2011 Egyptian revolution. Some news reports blamed thegovernment of Egypt for blocking it.[31]Vodafone Egypt, Egypt's largest mobile network operator, denied responsibility for the action in a tweet.[32] Twitter's news releases did not state who the company believed instituted the block.[33] As of January 26, Twitter was still confirming that the service was blocked in Egypt.[34] On January 27, various reports claimed that access to the entire Internet from within Egypt had been shut down.[35]
Shortly after the Internet shutdown, engineers atGoogle, Twitter, and SayNow, a voice-messaging startup company acquired by Google in January, announced theSpeak To Tweet service. Google stated in its official blog that the goal of the service was to assist Egyptian protesters in staying connected during the Internet shutdown.[36] Users could phone in a tweet by leaving a voicemail and use the Twitter hashtag #Egypt. These comments could be accessed without an Internet connection by dialing the same designated phone numbers. Those with Internet access could listen to the comments by visiting twitter.com/speak2tweet.
On February 2, 2011, connectivity was re-established by the four main Egyptian service providers.[37][38][39] A week later, the heavy filtering that occurred at the height of the revolution had ended.
The government of Nepal blocked access to Twitter from September 4 to 9, 2025, after the company did not comply with local regulations pertaining to local registration. The block contributed toanti-corruption protests in Nepal.[40][41]
Access to Twitter was blocked in Nigeria from June 5, 2021, to January 13, 2022.[42][43] The blocking occurred after Twitter deleted tweets made by, and temporarilysuspended, the Nigerian presidentMuhammadu Buhari, warning thesoutheastern people of Nigeria,[44][45] predominantlyIgbo people, of a potential repeat of the 1967Nigerian Civil War due to the ongoinginsurgency in Southeastern Nigeria.[46][43][47][48][49][50] The Nigerian government claimed that the deletion of the president's tweets factored into their decision, but it was ultimately based on "a litany of problems with the social media platform in Nigeria, where misinformation and fake news spread through it have had real world violent consequences",[51] citing the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria's corporate existence.[52]
In February 2024, Twitter was blocked by Pakistani state authorities ahead of the2024 general election. The ban was upheld in April, citing national security concerns. Despite the government's stance, both the government and thePakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) refused to comment on the outages, which were widely reported by internet watchdog groups.[53][54]
Activists challenging the ban argue that it was designed to suppress dissent following the general election, which was marred by widespread claims of vote rigging and subsequent protests. Authorities had also shut down mobile services on the day of the election, again citing security concerns.NetBlocks, an internet monitoring group, reported that users were unable to access Twitter on February 10 while the country was awaiting election results.[53]
In April, theSindh High Court ordered the government to restore access to the platform within one week, according to a report by theAFP news agency, citing lawyer Moiz Jaaferi, who had launched a separate challenge against the ban.[55] Despite this order, access to Twitter had been sporadic, with availability fluctuating based on the internet service provider, forcing users to rely on virtual private networks (VPNs), as noted by Alp Toker of NetBlocks.[56]
Imran Khan'sPakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, a prolific user of social media platforms, had been particularly impacted by this ban. This reliance on social media grew especially after the country's traditional media began censoring news about Khan and his party in the run-up to the election. Khan, who has more than 20 million followers on Twitter, saw his party call for protests against alleged rigging in the 2024 election. A government official's admission of vote manipulation in mid-February raised further concerns about the transparency of the election, confirming Khan's claims to many and furthering the allegations.[53][57][58]
NetBlocks confirmed through its Live metrics showing Twitter had been restricted in Pakistan since February, with service remaining fully or intermittently restricted for most users. They added that the incident came amidst a surge in internet censorship during the general election.[59] Asad Baig, a media strategist atDawn News, said that "The government's actions reek of authoritarianism, stifling dissent, and silencing voices in the name of maintaining control."[60] Several condemnations of the Pakistani Twitter ban were also exchanged by many non-governmental organizations.
On May 7, 2025, access was restored amid the2025 India–Pakistan conflict.[61][62]
On October 29, 2020, ISPs inTanzania blocked access to Twitter and other social media platforms during thegeneral election.[63][64][65]
On March 21, 2014, access to Twitter in Turkey was temporarily blocked, after a court ordered that "protection measures" be applied to the service. This followed earlier remarks by Prime MinisterRecep Tayyip Erdoğan who vowed to "wipe out Twitter" following damaging allegations ofcorruption in his inner circle.[66] However, on March 27, 2014, Istanbul Anatolia 18th Criminal Court of Peace suspended the above-mentioned court order. Turkey's constitutional court later ruled that the ban was illegal.[67] Two weeks after the Turkish government blocked the site, the Twitter ban was lifted.[68]
Some of the country's Internet providers restricted access to Twitter during the2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes and its aftermath. No official statement has been made regarding the restriction.[69]
On July 2, 2021, Uzbekistan blocked access to Twitter along with TikTok, VKontakte, and Skype after stating that they had violated a new personal data law. This also came amid new laws passed that criminalized insulting or slandering thepresident online, amid an upcomingpresidential election later that year.[70] The sites were briefly unblocked on March 16, 2022, before being blocked again hours later.[71] The bans on access to Twitter and VKontakte were again lifted on August 1, 2022.[72]
On August 8, 2024, PresidentNicolás Maduro announced a ban on access to Twitter for ten days amidanti-government protests, citing incitations of hatred, fascism and civil war.[73] The ban was subsequently extended for an indefinite period,[74]until it was lifted on January 13, 2026, following theCapture of Nicolás Maduro in the2026 United States intervention in Venezuela, after more than a year of blockage under then-presidentNicolás Maduro.[75]
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