Does X (Twitter) work in China?
What stops working, how people still post from China, and how to keep X from locking your account while you travel.
The short answer
No. X — still twitter.com to many people — has been blocked in mainland China since 2009. On hotel Wi-Fi or a Chinese SIM card the app shows nothing new and posts fail. Hong Kong and Macau are not affected.
As with other blocked apps, a roaming home SIM, a travel eSIM that routes data outside the mainland, or a VPN installed before you arrive will get it working.
Keeping your account out of trouble
X is quick to ask for extra verification when a login suddenly comes from a new country, and a VPN that hops between countries makes it look like your account is being passed around. A few minutes before the trip:
- —Turn on two-factor authentication with an authenticator app rather than SMS
- —Stay logged in on your phone, and on a laptop as a backup
- —Make sure your account email is one you can open from China — Gmail needs a VPN there too
- —Pick one VPN location and stick to it
Posting and reading from China
With a working connection, X behaves normally: posting, DMs, Spaces and video all work. Video is the part most sensitive to speed — if clips stall in the evening, that is international congestion into China rather than X itself, and it eases late at night.
Grok inside X follows the same connection as the rest of the app.
What people in China use instead
Weibo is the closest equivalent — public posts, trending topics, celebrities and brands — and works without a VPN.
Want to check another site? Try our is-it-blocked checker.