Home » Spotlight » 7 U.S. Companies that are banned in certain countries
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Giant corporations are household names in the west.
The notion of not using Google, for example, seems crazy, as the search engine has become utterly dominant in our day-to-day lives.
In fact, there are a number of legal cases going on suggesting it is too dominant.
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Likewise, Facebook, YouTube, and Snapchat are all among the most popular sites in the world.
But some countries have taken against them.
If you ever find yourself visiting these places, you'll find yourself unable to use some of your favorite websites.
Here are 10 companies banned in some parts of the world.
Be warned, you're going to be reading the words "banned in China" a lot in this article.
Google is the first company that's banned in the superpower.
People in China have not been able to Google since 2010 due to a row over censorship of search results.
China's censorship of information stretches to the internet, where websites and online content that are deemed politically sensitive or harmful to the government's interests are blocked or restricted.
A row in 2009 saw Google decide to stop censoring search results in China by diverting users to its Hong Kong-based search engine.
This move led to the company eventually getting banned.
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Mark Zuckerberg's social media phenomenon is another giant banned in China for reasons similar to those of Google.
The site is one of many blocked by China's security system, known as the Great Firewall.
The Chinese were also concerned about Facebook's collection and storage of its user data, which could allow foreign companies to access and control the personal information of Chinese people.
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Outside China, Snapchat isn't banned in Iran, but it is heavily restricted.
The country's government has concerns over what is shared on platforms like Snapchat because they do not align with its cultural or religious values.
The ability to encrypt information on sites like Snapchat is also seen as a security threat.
Iran also has its own apps it wants to promote over foreign-owned technology.
WhatsApp, the popular messaging app, has faced a number of temporary bans in Brazil.
This is because of a clash between the platform's privacy features and Brazilian legal requests.
There have been numerous short-term bans due to owner Meta's failure to comply with police requests for WhatsApp conversations.
The app-based taxi service is based in countries including Denmark, Hungary and Bulgaria.
Bulgaria banned Uber in 2015 after a court ruling declared its business practices unfair.
Uber actually left Denmark in 2017 due to tighter regulations, including its cars having to have fare meters and seat sensors.
In Hungary, a 2016 law allowed the national communications authority to block internet access to "illegal dispatcher services."
This effectively stopped Uber's operations and it withdrew from the country.
The streaming service is banned in Crimea as a result of the U.S. government's restrictions on doing business in the peninsula.
Dropbox is, you guessed it, banned in China.
Curiously, the Chinese government has never confirmed exactly why the platform is banned.
However, it is generally thought the picture-sharing service does not comply with the country's strict censorship laws.
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