They don't. They "blacklist" block by ip-address. At least that was what seemed to be going on the last time I was there.
It was fairly easy to bypass; I did it with a SSH-tunnel other people do it with VPN. It seem like a completely normal thing (amongst Chinese and certainly expats) to have a VPN.
I am pretty sure since this 996-protest movement concerns tech workers that it will spread with no problem.
Also it will probably get resolved in some manner since working 996 obviously is beyond peak productivity.
SSH-tunnel will quickly degrade in throughput if you use it to breach the GFW. Some kind of traffic analysis I think. You need other tools to bypass GFW consistently.
I remember watching a TV show on dr.dk through SSH in China. Not because the GFW blocked dr.dk but because dr.dk didn't allow foreign IP-addresses to watch some of their shows.
It was fairly easy to bypass; I did it with a SSH-tunnel other people do it with VPN. It seem like a completely normal thing (amongst Chinese and certainly expats) to have a VPN.
I am pretty sure since this 996-protest movement concerns tech workers that it will spread with no problem.
Also it will probably get resolved in some manner since working 996 obviously is beyond peak productivity.