Each country blocks Tor in its own way, and the method decides which workaround still gets through.
China's Great Firewall blocks the public Tor relays by downloading the same public list of relays that Tor clients use. For the unlisted bridges, it watches for connections that look like Tor, sends its own probe to the address, and blocks it if it answers like a Tor bridge. The Tor Project described both methods in January 2012, from observations that began in late 2011. OONI's tests from 8 September to 8 October 2026 found signs of blocking in 368 of 377 tests in China.
Some Russian providers started blocking the Tor network on 1 December 2021, and the Tor Project received an abuse notice from Roskomnadzor, the communications regulator, on 6 December 2021, according to OONI. The block differed from one provider to the next at first, but the Tor Project now says many Russian providers block direct connections and that users generally need a bridge. In the latest month, OONI found signs of blocking in 46,053 of 47,143 tests.
Belarus blocked the public Tor relays in December 2016 by injecting connection resets, after declaring in February 2015 that Tor should be blocked; at the time, ordinary bridges still got through, OONI reported. Recent tests show signs of blocking in 3,031 of 3,188.
Iran blocked the Tor network on every network OONI measured on 2 January 2018, during that winter's protests. During the protests of September 2022, OONI found that Tor's Snowflake transport still worked there. In the latest month, 937 of 4,222 OONI tests in Iran showed signs of blocking, so it depends on your network.
Turkmenistan was one of four countries the Tor Project named in July 2022 as blocking Tor, with Belarus, China and Russia, and its support pages say direct access there is heavily restricted. OONI had no tests from Turkmenistan in the latest month.
In Venezuela, the state provider CANTV blocked most of the Tor network from about June 2018 until about the end of August 2018. A 2022 report by VE sin Filtro found 70% to 80% of Tor's directory authorities blocked on CANTV at any given time, although connections usually still succeeded. In January 2025, major providers blocked the Tor Project's website along with at least 21 VPN websites.
Understanding Internet Censorship
Internet censorship takes many forms, from state-level firewalls to corporate network restrictions. Organizations like Access Now's #KeepItOn coalition track internet shutdowns globally, while the Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI) provides open data on censorship around the world.
GhostShield uses standard WireGuard without an obfuscation layer. In countries that detect and block VPN traffic itself, such as China, Russia and Iran, connections can fail at times, and some school and office networks block VPN connections too.
Alternative methods to unblock Tor Browser
Bridges come first, and they are already in Tor Browser. Since version 11.5 in July 2022, Connection Assist can look up the bridge settings that tend to work in your country and try them for you. You can also pick one yourself. obfs4 makes Tor traffic look random. Snowflake routes you through volunteer-run proxies. WebTunnel makes the connection look like an ordinary HTTPS visit to a website, and meek makes it look like you are browsing a major website. If the built-in bridges are blocked, get fresh ones from bridges.torproject.org, from @GetBridgesBot on Telegram, or by emailing bridges@torproject.org from a Gmail or Riseup address.
The Tor Project keeps advice for each of the hardest countries. For China it suggests Connection Assist first, then WebTunnel, Snowflake or meek. For Russia it suggests obfs4 bridges, or WebTunnel bridges hosted on less well-known providers. For Turkmenistan it suggests Snowflake with an AMP cache front, or obfs4 bridges on less well-known providers. Its support team can also send private bridges, and its page on connecting from censored regions explains how to ask.
A VPN is the other route. Connect the VPN first and start Tor Browser second, and your provider sees an encrypted connection to the VPN server rather than a Tor connection. The Tor Project's position is plain: combining a VPN with Tor 'can reduce anonymity or break Tor's protections if not configured correctly', and it does not recommend it unless you are an advanced user. The VPN also has to get through first. Reports since early 2022 describe China's firewall detecting and blocking WireGuard, the protocol GhostShield uses, and GhostShield has no obfuscation, so in China a bridge is the better bet.
Is unblocking Tor Browser legal?
Tor Browser is free software, and the blocks above are filters on the network: Belarus declared in 2015 that Tor should be blocked, and Russia's regulator moved against torproject.org in 2021. Whether you may use Tor or a VPN where you live is a separate question with a different answer in each country; our Russia and China guides cover the VPN rules there. Tor hides where your traffic goes, not what you post. If Tor is blocked on a school or work network, that is the network owner's rule, and the policy you agreed to applies.
Learn more about internet censorship and privacy →