Microsoft's Bing search engine blocked in China in further crackdown on foreign tech services

Bing was the only major foreign search engine accessible from within China, and Microsoft censored search results on sensitive topics, in accordance with government policy.

Google's search platform has been blocked in China since 2010.

The Bing ban is the US technology giant's second setback in China since November 2017, when its Skype internet phone call and messaging service was pulled from Apple and Android app stores.

A search performed on Bing's China website — cn.bing.com — from within mainland China directed users to a page that said the server could not be reached.

"We've confirmed that Bing is currently inaccessible in China and are engaged to determine next steps," Microsoft said in a statement.

The Financial Times reported China Unicom, a major state-owned telecommunication company, had confirmed the Government order to block the search engine.

Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), a government watchdog, did not respond to faxed questions about Bing's blocked website.

The Communist Party has a long history of exercising its role to educate and control citizens by removing content from the media that it believes might cause "spiritual pollution".

The



Firewall is a digital border that was built by the Chinese Government to control the internet in the mid-1990s.

In recent years, China has pushed its digital silk road and tech giants such as Huawei, Alibaba and Tencent to the world, while simultaneously tightening internet censorship.

President Xi Jinping has accelerated control of the internet in China since 2016, as the ruling Communist Party seeks to crack down on dissent in the social media landscape.

In a statement on Wednesday, CAC said it had deleted more than 7 million pieces of online information and 9,382 mobile apps.

It also criticised technology company Tencent's news app for spreading "vulgar information".

Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in December the company has no plans to relaunch a search engine in China though it is continuing to study the idea amid increased scrutiny of big tech firms.