Hi everyone, finally got back from vacation, but got sick in return, possibly due to sleeping in the airport for my next flight back home. Me and my family are currently in the process of recovery from our fever, hopefully we can all recover soon without seeing the doctor.
So it's been a couple of weeks since my last news post, went to a lot of places around, preparing to head to one China area to the next, some hectic travel problems, but now I'mback home to where Google services are availablr.
Anyways, some of you, if not much, are probably wondering the current update on my last post, and I can confirm with you all in the NG community,
Newgrounds is officially censored by China mainland's firewall, again, including Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Nanning, Shanghai, etc. (with the exceptions of Hong Kong. Taiwan, and possibly Macau).
There are probably some factors to why it came to this (Xi Jinping art or adult content ban laws), and although this sounds unfortunate to those who hoped to use NG in China besides Hong Kong and Macau, it's probably for the best. One reason is if there are strict government laws in regards to NSFW content, then it's a similar situation with India, as I heard that Newgrounds is censored there as well due to forbidding any pornography content. The second reasons is unless you've visited there recently this year, I have seen advertisements and small businesses using Generativ AI art to advertise, promote, or sponsor their business or products. Even if Newgrounds is not banned in China mainland, it could be a major headache for NG moderators to monitor more AI heavily generated content, not just art but animation, audio, or even games. If you want to access Newgrounds in China, you will have to prepare a VPN on your device(s) or sign up for a global mobile plan, I cannot guarantee if there is an unlimited option for the mobile plan. A moment of silence for NG user "Kenzu" for all his efforts to get Newgrounds unblocked in China, only for years later to be blocked again, all in vain.
So far Proton VPN works in some areas of China with Wi Fi, can confirm it here. You can also try Nord VPN, Express VPN, or surfshark, but you need to purchase a subscription of your choice for full access to pass through China's firewall. I also recommend to forget any saved Wifi networks in China mainland before you leave there, as it is possible its government can track it frkm what I've heard from folks I know who lived there.