Clubhouse became one of the most popular blocked sites in China

The social media app Clubhouse, which was the last resort to access the free internet, was blocked in China just days after it became the go-to app for uncensored conversations.

The Chinese government shields its citizens from the external world with the Great Firewall, which helps the government to control what citizens can access. VPN services are some of the most popular tools to circumvent it.

NordVPN analyzed search queries on Baidu, the local equivalent of Google, to see what the Chinese are trying to get access to the most. Of all VPN service-related or “unblock” keyword-related searches, 40% have to do with Google.

YouTube comes second on the list, accounting for 34% of all searches. Interestingly, another research by NordVPN has shown that YouTube holds the most desired restricted content, with 79% of internet users worldwide searching for how to unblock this video sharing platform.

Most popular social media sites like Facebook and Twitter share the rest of the interest of Chinese citizens and made it to the TOP-5 list of sought-after online platforms. Each site accounts for roughly 9% of search queries. Clubhouse was responsible for 1% of all queries looking how to get it unblocked.

The Chinese are among the most dedicated VPN users trying to reach out to the free internet. However, most of the time people engage with free but leaky VPN solutions.

Methodology: NordVPN researchers estimated search volumes using multiple sources of information, including Google, Ahrefs, and DragonMetrics. The analyzed search queries included the keywords “VPN” and “unblock”. The analysis was based on search volumes over a period of 30 days. Time frame: 9 January-9 February, 2021.