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Microsoft’s search engine, Bing, has blocked the newest online page under China’s strict regulations on citizens’ access to online data.
The Financial Times reports that the Chinese government has blocked Bing for “illegal content,” a policy China has used in the past to justify its censorship of online content.
Bing is the newest online site blocked in China, which has been dubbed the “Great Firewall. “The most blocked major platform recently was Facebook’s WhatsApp in 2017.
China has blocked many popular social media platforms, adding Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp, Tumblr, and Reddit. China also restricts citizens’ access to various media outlets, adding the New York Times, Bloomberg, the BBC, Reuters and Wall Street. Diary and time.
Read more: China’s ‘Great Firewall’ is higher than ever under ‘President-for-Life’ Xi Jinping
Google’s search engine has not been available in China since 2011, according to censorship watchdog Greatfire. org. For many, Bing is one of the last foreign search engines available to Chinese citizens.
At one point, Google helped create a censored search engine for China. However, the task, called Dragonfly, was reportedly scrapped after facing serious backlash from Google employees.
Under Chinese President Xi Jinping, the government has implemented several policies aimed at expanding online censorship. Censorship of online platforms has skyrocketed in the seven years since Xi came to power, the human rights organization PEN America wrote in a 2018 report on China’s social media.
A Microsoft spokesperson said Bing is “currently inaccessible in China” in a statement to the Financial Times. Microsoft did not respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.
Social media users in China posted photos on Twitter in which it appeared that their access to Bing’s Chinese site, cn. bing. com, was blocked.
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Bada bing bada boom: China turns out to have blocked Microsoft’s search engine pic. twitter. com/pNylXTgRX9
Bing to China#censorship pic. twitter. com/tB4DR6j0wf
Has Bing been blocked in China? A mediocre search engine yes, but. . . FML pic. twitter. com/EH1vlgQLvd
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