Facebook, the world’s most popular social network, has billions of monthly active users globally of which less than three million are in China. The reason why Facebook reaches only around four percent of the Chinese population is because it is blocked in mainland China (excluding Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan) along with many other foreign social media giants like YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter. Why is Facebook banned in China? The Chinese government has been blocking access to Facebook since July 2009, when a series of anti-government riots appeared in the Xinjiang province. The activists reportedly used Facebook as their main communications channel. Chinese authorities have no control over foreign social networks and see them as a threat to social and political stability, hence a long list of foreign internet sites, Facebook among them, are no longer easily accessible in China. Some people, however, access blocked websites by connecting to a virtual private network (VPN). What is the future of Facebook in China? Facebook’s most recent attempt to make a comeback in July 2018 was immediately prevented by the Chinese authorities. It is unlikely that China will allow it for as long as Facebook refuses to store its data servers within the country’s borders. Besides, keeping foreign social media banned is economically beneficial for such Chinese social networks as WeChat, Sina Weibo and Youku Tudou. WeChat, the most popular Chinese social media platform and messaging app, seems to successfully fill the “Facebook void” for at least a billion monthly active users.

The number of Facebook users in China was forecast to continuously decrease between 2024 and 2028 by in total 1,050,636 users. After the seventh consecutive decreasing year, the Facebook user base is estimated to reach 4,240,000 users and therefore a new minimum in 2028. User figures, shown here regarding the platform facebook, have been estimated by taking into account company filings or press material, secondary research, app downloads and traffic data. They refer to the average monthly active users over the period and count multiple accounts by persons only once.The shown data are an excerpt of Statista's Key Market Indicators (KMI). The KMI are a collection of primary and secondary indicators on the macro-economic, demographic and technological environment in up to 150 countries and regions worldwide. All indicators are sourced from international and national statistical offices, trade associations and the trade press and they are processed to generate comparable data sets (see supplementary notes under details for more information).

There were 5 386 700 Facebook users in China in October 2025, which accounted for 0.4% of its entire population. The majority of them were men - 52.4%. People aged 25 to 34 were the largest user group (2 600 000). The highest difference between men and women occurs within people aged 18 to 24, where women lead by 701 000.

In 2022, there were around **** billion social media users in China. Despite Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter being blocked in the country, local social networking sites such as WeChat and Weibo have been attracting millions of users, making China the world’s biggest social media market.

What is the role of social media in China? Around ** percent of the Chinese population use internet. Social networking plays a huge role among netizens, especially the younger generation. Chinese social media, just like Western equivalents, not only serves as a way to communicate online, but also as one of the main sources of news and entertainment, e-payments, shopping advisors, and dating channels. In 2021, over ** percent of surveyed social media users said they mostly appreciated that social networks help them to keep in touch with friends and family, but also share their life moments and thoughts.

What are the most popular social media platforms?

WeChat (Weixin in Chinese) is by far the most commonly seen social app in the country, used for anything from texting/calling to photo and video sharing, dating, financial services, game-playing, shopping, ride hailing, and so on. However, Chinese social media scene is quite diverse and dynamic, therefore, it is not just about WeChat. Instant messaging app Tencent QQ, microblogging site Weibo, video sharing app Youku Tudou, short-form video app Douyin (aka TikTok), photo editing and sharing app Meitu, restaurant recommendation and food ordering platform Meituan, Quora equivalent Zhihu, and dating app Momo are just a few among the most popular Chinese social media examples.

As of January 2021, about **** percent of social media users in China aged above 40 years. The Chinese Facebook-like mobile messenger app WeChat has become an indispensable tool for the everyday life in the country, providing various services like digital payment, online banking, ride hailing, gaming, and much more.

The alternative social media scene behind the “Great Firewall” of China, whose doors have remained shut to international internet heavyweights, has been thriving. As of 2024, the Asian giant housed about 1.08 billion active social media users. A global view of social networking The number of social network users across the globe steadily rose to 5.17 billion people in 2024 and was expected to continue growing. Facebook topped the charts with 3.07 billion active social media users, with YouTube following behind. Meanwhile, instant messaging apps WeChat and QQ, short video pioneer Douyin, and blogging site Weibo have placed Chinese platforms on the radar as prominent social media players. Chinese fascination with microblogging Apart from instant messaging, the trend of microblogging has swept across the multitudes of netizens in China. Comparable to sites like X (formerly Twitter), China has its term for microblogging - "weibo", and such networks have been used extensively as a space for news discussions. In China, Sina Corporation’s Weibo has emerged as the leading platform, with its number of monthly active users ranging around 580 million.

This dataset is about companies in China. It has 32,433 rows. It features 3 columns: LinkedIn followers, and Facebook link.

The data were collected using Fplus to scrape comments from Facebook posts about the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Vietnam.

** percent of Chinese respondents answer our survey on "Most used social media platforms by type" with "Instant messengers (e.g., WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, WeChat)". The survey was conducted in 2023, among ****** consumers.Find this and more survey data on most used social media platforms by type in our Consumer Insights tool. Filter by countless demographics, drill down to your own, hand-tailored target audience, and compare results across countries worldwide.

China Commodity Sales: FB: Tabacco and Liquor data was reported at 2,651.125 RMB bn in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 2,518.369 RMB bn for 2016. China Commodity Sales: FB: Tabacco and Liquor data is updated yearly, averaging 954.647 RMB bn from Dec 1998 (Median) to 2017, with 20 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 2,651.125 RMB bn in 2017 and a record low of 409.620 RMB bn in 1998. China Commodity Sales: FB: Tabacco and Liquor data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Wholesale, Retail and Catering Sector – Table CN.RJA: Wholesale and Retail Sales: Commodity Sales: Above Designated Size Enterprise.

This horizontal bar chart displays employees (people) by Facebook link using the aggregation sum in China. The data is about companies.

As of September 1, 2025, the South Korean manufacturing conglomerate Samsung was the most-followed brand on Facebook in Hong Kong. Its Facebook page amassed nearly 162.3 million followers worldwide. Other popular brand pages among Hong Kong's Facebook users were Coca-Cola, Netflix, and Meta. Facebook users in Hong Kong Facebook has been losing users in Hong Kong as the younger generations move to alternatives like YouTube and TikTok. Its largest audience was between 25 and 44 years old, whereas users aged between 13 and 17 years only accounted for 18 percent. According to forecasts, Facebook’s userbase in the city will drop to 5.46 million by 2027.
Brands and social media marketing Hong Kong is one of the most digitally connected regions in the world with a high social media penetration rate. For some internet users living in the financial hub, social media has become a useful source for brand research. To connect and engage local consumers, many brands have established a strong presence on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram, the three most important social media platforms in the international city.

There is ongoing debate over whether authoritarian regimes can maintain control over information given the rise of social media and the Internet. In this debate, China is often cited as a prime example of how authoritarian regimes can retain control, but to date, there has been limited research on whether China’s online censorship strategies can be replicated in other authoritarian regimes. This article shows that China’s ability to censor social media rests on the dominance of domestic firms in China’s market for Internet content. The absence of U.S. social media firms in China allows the Chinese government to engage in censorship through content removal, which can quickly and effectively suppress information. In contrast, for most other regimes, the market for social media is dominated by U.S. multinational firms, e.g., Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and in these contexts, content removal is an immense challenge. This article then examines the prospects of instituting content removal by developing domestic social media or importing Chinese platforms, and finds that most authoritarian regimes are unlikely to be able to duplicate China’s online censorship efforts.

Market leader Facebook was the first social network to surpass one billion registered accounts and currently sits at more than three billion monthly active users. Meta Platforms owns four of the biggest social media platforms, all with more than one billion monthly active users each: Facebook (core platform), WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram. In the third quarter of 2023, Facebook reported around four billion monthly core Family product users. The United States and China account for the most high-profile social platforms Most top-ranked social networks with more than 100 million users originated in the United States, but services like Chinese social networks WeChat, QQ, or video-sharing app Douyin have also garnered mainstream appeal in their respective regions due to local context and content. Douyin’s popularity has led to the platform releasing an international version of its network, TikTok. How many people use social media? The leading social networks are usually available in multiple languages and enable users to connect with friends or people across geographical, political, or economic borders. In 2025, social networking sites are estimated to reach 5.44 billion users, and these figures are still expected to grow as mobile device usage and mobile social networks increasingly gain traction in previously underserved markets.

This bar chart displays X followers (followers) by Facebook link using the aggregation sum in China. The data is about companies.

Macau SAR (China) Composite Consumer Price Index (CPI): FB: Eating Out and Takeaway: Chinese Food data was reported at 100.406 Jul2023-Jun2024=100 in Mar 2025. This records an increase from the previous number of 100.367 Jul2023-Jun2024=100 for Feb 2025. Macau SAR (China) Composite Consumer Price Index (CPI): FB: Eating Out and Takeaway: Chinese Food data is updated monthly, averaging 100.177 Jul2023-Jun2024=100 from Oct 2024 (Median) to Mar 2025, with 6 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 100.406 Jul2023-Jun2024=100 in Mar 2025 and a record low of 100.029 Jul2023-Jun2024=100 in Nov 2024. Macau SAR (China) Composite Consumer Price Index (CPI): FB: Eating Out and Takeaway: Chinese Food data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Statistics and Census Service. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Macau SAR (China) – Table MO.I001: Composite Consumer Price Index: July 2023-June 2024=100.

This bar chart displays LinkedIn followers (followers) by Facebook link using the aggregation sum in China. The data is about companies.

According to a survey on digital usage in China, around 91.8 percent of respondents had used WeChat as of the third quarter of 2023. The short video app Douyin, the social commerce site Xiaohongshu, and the Twitter-like site Weibo, were among the most popular social media platforms in China. How successful is WeChat in China? The country’s most popular messaging app, WeChat, boasts over one billion monthly active users. For many Chinese consumers, WeChat is part of daily life, helping them to organize tasks such as paying bills, ordering food delivery, and calling a taxi. On average, WeChat users spent about an hour and 20 minutes per day on the app. Large user base with high engagement The social media scene in China is huge and mobile-centric. In 2023, the social media penetration rate amounted to 74 percent in China, slightly higher than in countries like the United States and Japan. While the user number has shown signs of reaching a saturation point, Chinese consumers have been spending more time online, with a considerable daily usage of social media.

Macau CPI (B): FB: MH: MH: Chinese Food data was reported at 138.654 Jul2004-Jun2005=100 in Sep 2009. This records an increase from the previous number of 138.450 Jul2004-Jun2005=100 for Aug 2009. Macau CPI (B): FB: MH: MH: Chinese Food data is updated monthly, averaging 119.969 Jul2004-Jun2005=100 from Jan 2006 (Median) to Sep 2009, with 45 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 138.654 Jul2004-Jun2005=100 in Sep 2009 and a record low of 107.190 Jul2004-Jun2005=100 in Jan 2006. Macau CPI (B): FB: MH: MH: Chinese Food data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Statistics and Census Service. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Macau – Table MO.I021: Consumer Price Index (B): July 04- June 05=100.

This horizontal bar chart displays revenues ($) by Facebook link using the aggregation sum in China. The data is about companies.