Microsoft’s Bing search engine briefly blocked images and videos of the famous “tank man” of Tiananmen Square on Friday, the anniversary of Chin

Microsoft’s Bing Briefly Blocked ‘Tank Man’ on Tiananmen Anniversary

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2021-06-05 15:00:06

Microsoft’s Bing search engine briefly blocked images and videos of the famous “tank man” of Tiananmen Square on Friday, the anniversary of China’s massacre of pro-democracy protesters in 1989, in what the company said was an error.

Users outside China reported that the search engine had returned text results for “tank man” — as the unknown person, carrying shopping bags, who blocked a line of tanks in central Beijing after the killings has become known. But Bing’s video and image tabs displayed no references to the event.

The “tank man” images are routinely blocked within China, as are other references to the military’s crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protesters, which left hundreds or more dead.

Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment. By early Saturday, the site was once again returning the video and image results.

Microsoft is the only major foreign company that runs a censored search engine inside China. It has struggled to appease the country’s regulators, who heavily censor the internet and worry about the security of technology made by American companies. For its part, the United States government has increasingly punished Chinese companies that it says are tied to online repression and surveillance.

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