Great Firewall

British  

noun

1. informal a system that prevents access to websites deemed undesirable by the government of the People's Republic of China

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Etymology

Origin of Great Firewall

C21: a play on the _{Great Wall of China}

Example Sentences

For decades, the Great Firewall worked because information control meant controlling distribution channels by blocking websites, filtering search results, and monitoring social media.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 13, 2026

Resourceful activists have been finding new ways to get around this but even those few cracks in the Great Firewall - like AirDrop - are now slowly being plugged.

From BBC • Jun. 8, 2023

“If more videos or information jumps across the Great Firewall of China, then obviously it’s outside the control of China’s online censorship machine.”

From Washington Post • Dec. 2, 2022

A number of accounts on Twitter have collected videos of the unrest from those behind China’s Great Firewall and posted them.

From New York Times • Nov. 30, 2022

But the system, which also lets the FSB security service spy on Russian citizens, is a relative sieve compared to China’s Great Firewall.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 13, 2022