10 Of The Most Noteworthy Technology Bans Ever Enforced

The recent U.S. TikTok ban got the whole world talking and certainly got us thinking. Not many would've thought that an application as popular and ingrained in our lives as TikTok could just be taken away from us overnight. This redefined technological bans for a lot of us. It also got us thinking of the other times something like this has occurred.

The world is no stranger to technological bans since we entered this digital age. Governments of various countries across the globe have, in some way or another, restricted various types of tech. This is unsurprising, considering that the primary duty of any government is to protect its people from lurking threats of harm. And sometimes, these threats are as much online as they are physical.

Data protection has become the watchword, especially in a world with many advanced cyber warfare tools. The government trying to protect us sometimes means banning software and hardware that have become a part of our lives. Technology bans date back to the start of this century. But some have become more notable, iconic, and infamous than others. With that in mind, here are 10 of the most noteworthy technology bans ever enforced.

Starting off with the elephant in the room, the famous — or infamous — TikTok ban. The United States Congress passed a bill in March of 2024, targeting the unlawful distribution, maintenance, or updating of select applications in the U.S. by a foreign adversary. While this regulation is not confined to TikTok only, it seems TikTok was its main target. This is because of the growing tension between the U.S. and China, which has led to increased data privacy protection. TikTok is owned by a Chinese company — ByteDance.

Due to this, the U.S. fears it's being used not just as a mobile application but also as a data mining tool — data they do not want in the Chinese government's hands. As such, they presented the options of selling to a U.S.-based firm or putting a complete halt to its stateside operations. Eventually, after legal disputes, the TikTok ban was upheld by the Supreme Court. And, on January 19, 2025, TikTok was banned in the U.S., albeit briefly.

The U.S. is not the only country to have banned TikTok. India, another country with a tense relationship with China, saw it fit to do this all the way back in 2020. India is one of the most populated nations in the world and, at the time, was the company's biggest foreign market. This did not stop the government from banning TikTok, as well as other Chinese apps, in response to border clashes.

Another casualty of China's diplomatic relations is the Chinese technological powerhouse — Huawei. Many countries, including the U.S., U.K., and Canada, banned or restricted Huawei's services. This stopped the company from participating in its 5G infrastructure development. The main reason for this is that the company has been accused of potential links to spying for the Chinese government. As such, to protect national security, these bans were enforced.

The U.S. government has never been comfortable with Huawei's potential ties to the Chinese government. With that in mind, President Donald Trump signed a bill into law to this effect. The law implemented a ban on federal agencies from getting equipment from certain companies, including Huawei and ZTE. This development was just the beginning for Huawei, which was further hit with an Android ban by Google.

Canada and the U.K. followed the U.S. lead. Pressure from the U.S. and other allies was ultimately the reason Canada banned Huawei technology. After much debate, the Canadian government announced the ban in May 2022, citing national security concerns. The U.K., on the other hand, took action much sooner. The government initially wanted to allow the company a limited role in its 5G infrastructure. This was, however, abandoned when the ban was announced in July 2020. The announcement included a directive that all existing Huawei equipment for its 5G networks must be removed by 2027.

The Chinese government plays a central role in this ban too. But, unlike the other two, they are the party enforcing the ban. Facebook is the most widely used social media platform in the world, and China is the second most populous nation on earth. This makes it all the more surprising to find that the most popular social media app in the world is banned in the second most populous country in the world. 

China banned Facebook in 2009 after riots occurred in Xinjiang. After the riots, the Chinese government felt the need to take control of online content. It found that Facebook's somewhat loose regulations were a threat to political stability.

The ban is still in effect today. It would be incomplete to talk about the ban without attributing it to China and U.S. diplomatic relations. Since Facebook is an American company, China has felt the need to shy away from it due to concerns about U.S. government influence, similar to why the U.S. avoids Chinese companies. 

China has, however, fared well, with local alternatives such as WeChat, Weibo, and Tencent QQ replacing it. They are also not the only country to have enforced a Facebook ban. Countries including Russia, Uganda, and Turkmenistan have also followed suit.

Telegram is another social media platform that has been on the receiving end of several bans. The cloud-based instant messaging service is no stranger to security concerns. In fact, over 30 countries have enforced bans on it since 2015. The thing is, there are many unsettling reasons why you might want to stop using Telegram. These range from poor encryption to a lackluster user interface and better alternatives. 

When it comes to countries enforcing Telegram bans, the most notable is Russia. The Kremlin attempted to block Telegram in 2018 because it failed to comply with its regulation on providing encryption keys. However, the ban was not effective, and they eventually lifted it in 2020.

Russia ditched the ban for many reasons. First, Telegram agreed to cooperate with Russian regulations. Secondly, the enforcement was just not effective, as many government officials continued to use the app despite the ban. Two countries that still have the ban in place are China and Iran. Iran banned Telegram in 2018, while China did in 2015. Both these nations enforced the ban due to concerns about its use in organizing demonstrations, which they felt resulted in political instability. China also specifically had issues with Telegram's use as a medium for criticizing the government. 

BlackBerry devices once dominated the smartphone market. Prior to the rise of iPhones and Androids, the smartphone enjoyed a reign that cannot be forgotten. Since this domination, however, BlackBerry has had a turbulent time. It was discontinued in 2022, six years after its renowned BlackBerry Classic product was also shelved. However, BlackBerry's reign wasn't all rosy. Countries like India, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE temporarily banned BlackBerry services. Concerns over its encryption security were the basis for these bans.

The UAE was the first to register a noteworthy ban on BlackBerry. This occurred in 2010 after the government suspected that the phones were sending data outside the country. This was a problem because multiple government officials used the phone. As such, vital national data could have been unprotected. The UAE's encryption concerns coincided with similar security concerns in India and Saudi Arabia, leading to restrictive use in India as well as an outright ban by Saudi Arabia. 

In India, the company reached an agreement with the government. The agreement meant they had to set up servers in the country to allow the government to lawfully intercept its data. Saudi Arabia, however, was not as forthcoming as they saw the encryption concerns as a national security risk and instituted a ban in 2010 as well.

The internet itself has not been immune to bans and restrictions. Governments across the globe have used internet bans to suppress what they deem to be insurrection and take control of the narrative. This practice has led to many debates about the rights of the government to limit its citizen's internet access. Some argue it violates human rights and liberties, while others justify it on the basis of overriding national security and public safety. There are many reasons why the internet should not be regulated, and so, the debate will rage on. And while it does, we can take a look at some instances where an internet ban has been enforced.

Countries such as China, Iran, and India, which have already featured on this list, are no strangers to enforcing internet bans. Other countries such as Myanmar, Sudan, and Uganda have also done so. In India, the cities of Jammu and Kashmir experienced an internet shutdown for almost two years between 2019 and 2021. 

The government did this in anticipation of unrest when they wanted to implement a controversial policy in the region. Uganda also restricted its internet access during the country's general elections in 2021. This was seen as a way to control the dissemination of election results and news. But not many agreed with this and instead saw it as a way of avoiding electoral transparency.

Video games have also been subject to bans and restrictions. Several countries have seen a need to enforce these bans to censor content, preserve social values, maintain cultural influence, and so on. Games like Grand Theft Auto and PUBG have faced bans or restrictions in countries like China, India, and Saudi Arabia. Why? For promoting violence, cultural insensitivity, or national security concerns over data privacy. China has enforced the most famous video game bans. Being the world's largest gaming market, the Chinese government has seen a need to regulate video game access in the country.

The reasons for these bans are many. One prominent one is the government wanting to only support games that align with its political narrative. Another reason is to promote its locally made video games by restricting access to foreign ones. Even more notably, in 2021, China made a law limiting kids below 18 to just three hours of video games a week.

India's ban on games like PUBG Mobile and Garena Free Fire is due to national security concerns over data privacy. Saudi Arabia, however, is known for its conservative stance on many issues. Video games are no different. The Saudi government has limited access to games with harmful annotations, such as violence and other adult content.

If video games have been banned, then a cryptocurrency ban is not too far-fetched. We all know what cryptocurrency is. In recent years, it has become a part of the global economy, which we cannot ignore or overlook. But, the thing with crypto is that, just like any tool, it has its downsides. One is that the highly decentralized operations of these coins make it a very useful method for funding criminal or illegal activity. As such, some countries have implemented policies restricting or totally banning the use of cryptocurrencies.

One of these countries is China. China proved once again that they are trigger-happy when it comes to enforcing bans, especially on things that don't align with their national objectives. In 2021, the government, through the People's Bank of China, prohibited crypto transactions. China justified its blanket crypto ban by stating that it was a threat to the assets of citizens and also responsible for high energy consumption. 

The ban was unsurprising as the foundations were already laid in 2019 when China began tightening regulations on crypto mining. The effectiveness of this ban is unclear because crypto uses highly decentralized systems that make it difficult to track and monitor. China's neighbor, India, has also shown hostility towards crypto but doesn't have laws outrightly banning it.

One way to get around internet restrictions is through the use of VPNs. VPN stands for virtual private network. This is a useful tool for hiding your IP address or encrypting your internet activity. It virtually allows you to change your browsing location without actually changing locations. So, say, for instance, you are in China and cannot access Facebook. With a VPN, you can change your IP address to another location, allowing you to use Facebook despite the ban. The ethical implications of VPNs are cause for debate. But certainly, they are a great tool when it comes to internet privacy and accessibility. It is this potential for dishonest use that forms a significant reason for its ban in certain places.

There are many countries that have enforced VPN bans and restrictions, including China, Russia, and North Korea. But Russia's ban is the most noteworthy. Roskomnadzor, Russia's internet regulation agency, stopped VPNs from allowing users to access any site that is on the country's blacklist. But they didn't stop there. In 2021, Russia outright banned several VPNs, including renowned ones like NordVPN. Furthermore, in March last year, the Kremlin made it illegal to disseminate information about how to get around internet restrictions. The main targets of this law are VPNs.

Like VPNs, another technological tool that can be as problematic as they are useful is drones. The reasons for restricting or banning drones are more apparent than other technologies on this list. Anything that occupies the airspace and can be controlled remotely is always going to be subject to national security protocols. 

Drone technology has advanced tremendously in recent years. They have become invaluable tools for photographers and videographers. But as its utility advanced, so did its use in warfare. Today, there are stricter drone laws, each peculiar to the countries that make them. Drone operations are now subject to extensive permits, licensing, and monitoring in many countries.

The reasons for banning drone use are extensive. The common overriding one is security and safety purposes. But some countries also ban its usage for wildlife protection or due to a lack of clear and defined guidelines for its operation. In the U.S., drones are banned at certain public places, including the Statue of Liberty. Similarly, in Tokyo, Japan, drones have been banned from public parks to preserve the public's safety. 

Even in Antarctica, drones are restricted. While harsh weather poses operational challenges, the primary reasons for restrictions are environmental protection and wildlife safety. The extent of drone restrictions and bans is almost certain to multiply in the coming years.