YouTube was blocked on Monday, says the video-sharing site. There was no official notification from the Chinese government, but site official observed a severe drop in Chinese traffic around noon.
Chinese users trying to access YouTube were only met with the following message: "Network Timeout. The server at youtube.com is taking too long to respond."
At this time, the main possible reason behind this block might be the recent release o YouTube of several videos depicting brutal actions of Chiense police in Tibet.
It wouldn’t be the first time that China bans YouTube on Tiber-related issues. Back in March 2008, Chinese YouTube users were left in the dark as well, since the site featured videos with the protesters.
China is not the only country willing to block a website on political reasons. Bangladesh, Thailand, Pakistan and Turkey acted in a similar manner in the past.
Google officials stated that the company was working with the Chinese representatives to lift the current ban.