Access Your Slack Account in China with this Hint

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In the intensive war to find purchase with business intelligence tools over the past 15-20 years, Slack has risen near the top, winning worldwide acclaim for its collaboration tool that allows businesses to communicate with previously-unrealized success.

As popular as Slack has become worldwide, you still can’t access it in China despite being hugely beneficial to small-and-medium businesses like the ones that are springing up all over the world’s largest country.

Note. Non-government-approved VPNs are illegal in China, but there have been no public cases of tourists being penalized by the Chinese government. The protection of a VPN doesn’t give you license to commit illegal acts, so please exercise a basic level of caution when using a VPN in China.

A Brief History of Slack

Slack was launched in August 2013 and founded by Stewart Butterfield, the entrepreneur who had previously launched Flickr.

The word Slack is actually an acronym for the phrase “Searchable Log of All Conversation and Knowledge”. Slack overcame an early-stage hack in 2015 and began growing by leaps and bounds after that.

It allows users to be grouped into Teams and integrates extremely well with a number of like-minded business tools including Google Drive, Trello, Box, Dropbox, and Zapier.

Why is Slack Banned in China?

China flag
China consistently employs strict Internet censorship through its renowned “Great Firewall of China.” This system actively blocks websites by targeting their IP addresses and DNS, and at times, even resorts to aggressive measures to suppress online platforms that share critical content concerning the government.

In the past few years, China has cracked down on any sort of website that allows for free communication between two or more parties, as well as anything that allows unfiltered news to be distributed to the Chinese public.

Most of these websites originate in the West, which includes a slew of media, social media, and productive tools. One website estimates that 20% of Alexa’s 100 most trafficked websites are blocked in China, including Slack.

Accessing Slack in China

Virtual private networks (VPNs) are the obvious choice to safely access your accounts and online content in China, but even that can be a difficult deal because of China’s impressive defensive grid.

Virtual Private Network (VPN)
Since 2009, China has made more and more of an effort to crack down on proxies and other VPN-type services to keep them from allowing citizens to view some content.  This has led to more innovation from VPN manufacturers to keep their sites searchable and active in the landscape so that their services can be offered to Chinese citizens.

The key here is to really research which websites can handle the Chinese Great Firewall and which are available for download inside the borders for downloading. If you are visiting China for work or leisure, your best bet is to download a VPN client host before entering China to ensure you can access it during your stay.

Best VPNs for using Slack in China

1ExpressVPN

ExpressVPN

ExpressVPN doesn’t just get you access to all your online accounts and content, it does it with the fastest speeds of any VPN in the industry. It’s not just speed that separates ExpressVPN from the rest of the pack, however.

It boasts the best in-class security and encryption along with unlimited bandwidth and server switches and a 30-day risk free guarantee. Its quick speeds make it a great VPN for mobile with unlimited bandwidth and server switches.

Its speed comes from a battery of extra-fast servers located in 94 countries, nearly half of all countries in the world! It has split-tunneling functionality and a kill switch, plus zero-knowledge DNS.

Try Now Risk Free

Editor’s Note: Transparency is one of our core values at WizCase, so you should know we are in the same ownership group as ExpressVPN. However, this does not affect our review process, as we adhere to a strict testing methodology.

2VyprVPN

VyprVPN

VyprVPN is a second VPN that can safely grant you access to all your online content. It’s based in Switzerland, which has strict privacy laws, and has very fast speeds along with app support for all 10 platforms.

Its custom Chameleon protocol adds extra layers of protection and accessibility that are key when going up against Chinese protocol, and it adds in a kill switch and DNS leak protection.

All these powerful tools make VyprVPN a quality VPN for Windows use.

Get it Now


Summary: Top VPNs to Unblock Slack in China in 2024

Top Ranked Top Choice
ExpressVPN
$6.67 / month Save 49%
Find Out More
VyprVPN
$3.00 / month Save 70%
Find Out More

Editor's Note: We value our relationship with our readers, and we strive to earn your trust through transparency and integrity. We are in the same ownership group as some of the industry-leading products reviewed on this site: ExpressVPN, Cyberghost, Private Internet Access, and Intego. However, this does not affect our review process, as we adhere to a strict testing methodology.

John Bennet
Written By John Bennet
John Bennet is an experienced data and communications engineer and cross-platform copy and content writer and editor with a keen interest in cybersecurity. He has been working with and researching, VPNs and other online privacy tools for many years.
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