Because of a reason that nobody really knows

Jan 24, 2019 07:52 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft’s Bing search engine is no longer available in China due to what’s believed to be a ban requested by the Beijing government.

Details are rather vague at this point, but a report from The New York Times reveals that users in China can no longer access cn.bing.com, which is one of the last American services that survived in the country.

Microsoft offering Bing to Chinese users was mostly the result of the efforts the software giant made to comply with the requirements of the local government, setting up further restrictions as compared to its search engine in other countries.

However, all of these now seem to be worth nothing for China. State-owned telecom giant China Unicom reportedly confirmed the government specifically requested the block, though no other specifics were shared.

Microsoft: We are investigating

Microsoft says it’s aware of reports pointing to issues experienced by users when trying to access its search engine in China and explains it’s investigating.

At this point, the leading search engine in China is Baidu, which has more than 70 percent of the search market locally. Bing is very far behind with approximately 2 percent.

But Bing getting banned is a sign that the struggle of American companies in China is far from coming to an end.

The search engine world in China raised particular challenges for US-based tech giants, with Google itself leaving the country back in 2010. On the other hand, Google is now believed to be exploring a return to China with a dedicated service tailored to China, though at this point, plans are said to be in their early stages.

While it’s not yet known whether Bing would return in China at some point in the future, Microsoft’s search engine joins a long list of services that are currently banned in the country and which includes names like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.