On Wednesday people in China were disturbed when they could not access the Bing Search engine. After investigations involving both the sides, it was revealed that Microsoft Corp.’s search engine Bing was blocked in China was due to an accidental technical error rather than due to censorship. The search engine is once again accessible in China.
“Some reports are saying it is due to technical problems, You should ask other parties.” said Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for China’s foreign ministry. The government typically does not explain its actions or justifications.
The blocking of Bing was a surprise because Microsoft has sought to build a local operation under China’s rules. Alphabet Inc.’s Google, very unlike Microsoft, under some pressure from different quarters, pulled its search engine out years ago in part to avoid government censorship, Microsoft has toed the line and stops content deemed illegal from showing up in results. This may have allowed Microsoft's Azure cloud computing service remained online and available. The Great Firewall of China, blocks thousands of websites including big boys like, Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, Yahoo, and Google.
Microsoft President Brad Smith said the company wasn’t yet certain whether the Bing incident reflected a broader issue.
“It’s not the first time that we’ve encountered issues like this for being in China. These do arise periodically, We do adhere to the global network initiative set of principles when it comes to search services in China. And that does mean that there are days when there are either difficult negotiations or even disagreements, but we’re not aware of any ongoing negotiation or disagreement.”
Microsoft President Brad Smith told an audience at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Bloomberg
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