Microsoft says error led to no matching Bing images for Tiananmen 'tank man'

A sign of Microsoft Corp's Bing search engine is seen at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, China September 21, 2018. REUTERS/Stringer

Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) on Friday blamed "accidental human error" for its Bing search engine not showing image results for the query "tank man" in the United States and elsewhere after users raised concerns about possible censorship around the Tiananmen Square crackdown anniversary.

Users, including in the United Kingdom, Germany and Singapore, reported Friday that when they performed the search Bing returned the message, "There are no results for tank man."

David Greene, civil liberties director at the nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation, said that content moderation was impossible to do perfectly and "egregious mistakes are made all the time."

But he said it could be more sinister: "At worst, this was purposeful suppression at the request of a powerful state."

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