Watch without Limits
Access YouTube from anywhere
YouTube is blocked or throttled in some of the world's largest countries. Lantern keeps you connected with protocols built to get past even the most advanced censorship systems.
How to access YouTube with Lantern
Step 1: Get Lantern
Download Lantern, on your phone or computer. It's free.
Step 2: Open and connect
Open Lantern and tap to connect. Lantern automatically picks the best protocol for your network, so there's nothing to configure.
Step 3: Enjoy YouTube
Go to youtube.com or open the YouTube app. You're in.
Where is YouTube blocked?
YouTube is the second most-visited website in the world, but it's completely unavailable in several countries and severely degraded in others.
Countries where YouTube is fully blocked:
- China (blocked since 2009)
- Iran (blocked since 2012)
- North Korea
- Turkmenistan (blocked since 2009)
- Eritrea
Countries where YouTube is throttled or restricted:
- Russia (throttled since July 2024, with speeds reduced by up to 90%. YouTube traffic dropped from 43% of Russian internet traffic to under 12% by January 2025.1)
- Pakistan, Sudan, and others have imposed temporary blocks during political events
- Nepal ordered social media blocks including YouTube in September 2025
Russia's approach to YouTube is worth understanding. Rather than blocking it outright (which would disrupt Google's broader ecosystem including Android and Google Maps), Russian authorities throttle connection speeds using deep packet inspection, making the platform practically unusable without a VPN. The government has simultaneously promoted domestic alternatives like Rutube and VK Video, and has invested an estimated 60 billion rubles ($660 million) in upgrading its censorship infrastructure.1 2
Schools, workplaces, and public networks also commonly block YouTube. Lantern works in these situations too.
Why YouTube is one of the hardest sites to unblock in Russia
Russia's censorship system (known as TSPU, or Technical Measures to Combat Threats) doesn't just block URLs. It inspects traffic at the protocol level and throttles anything it identifies as YouTube data, even through VPNs that use standard protocols like OpenVPN or basic WireGuard.3
Since 2024, Russia has blocked at least seven common VPN protocols including Shadowsocks and OpenVPN, removed over 100 VPN apps from the Russian App Store, and made sharing information about VPNs a criminal offense.2 3
This is exactly why Lantern exists. Lantern supports more circumvention protocols than any other VPN and dynamically switches between them when one is detected. Many of these protocols were originally designed to bypass China's Great Firewall, which uses similar deep packet inspection techniques. When Russia began throttling YouTube, Lantern's monthly active users in Russia grew by over 300%.
What you can do with YouTube + Lantern
- Watch, upload, and comment without speed throttling or buffering
- Access YouTube on any device (Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, Linux)
- Keep up with independent news and creators blocked or suppressed on state-controlled platforms
- Stay connected to educational content when schools or institutions block YouTube
Free to start. Pro for more.
Lantern's free plan includes daily data, enough to test that YouTube works on your network. Lantern Pro gives you unlimited data for uninterrupted streaming, access on up to 5 devices, and server location selection.
Every Pro subscription helps fund free access for people in censored regions.