Chinese internet users have reported they are no longer able to access Microsoft’s Bing search engine on mobile devices.
Following complaints by users via social media, Microsoft investigated and confirmed that Bing is inaccessible on mobile devices. It still works on desktops, though.
The exact reason for the outage is yet to be determined. Microsoft isn’t quick to make any conclusions or assumptions. Even though there are speculations about Bing being the next victim of the “Great Firewall of China”, Microsoft says that it may very well be a glitch, as well.
“We’ve confirmed that Bing is currently inaccessible in China and are engaged to determine next steps,” Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement, the BBC reports.
The US and China have a ruined relationship as the trade war between the two rages on. Search engines are always a hot topic. It is a known fact that the Chinese government censors the internet and doesn’t allow its citizens to visit some western websites like YouTube or Facebook.
Search engine results are also being monitored and censored, which is why Google pulled out in 2010. It tried to create a China-only search engine, which would censor certain results, but its employees spoke against it and Google eventually abandoned the project.
Twitter is blocked, but it has an office in the country, due to the fact that many Chinese use the service abroad.
