Research from CitizenLab reveals that Bing censors the names of controversial or politically sensitive Chinese figures.
Well, this is quite the interesting predicament that Bing has itself trapped in. It’s not like I expect a lawsuit dropping on the platform’s head at any moment, but reactions from China, which is a big market for the search engine, are going to be something. Assuming, of course, that news gets to them in the first place. Interestingly, the Chinese government has itself requested similar censorship from Bing, and higher-ups were happy enough to acquiesce. However, the devs ended up being a little too good at their jobs, because the resulting content censorship ended up spilling over to US audiences as well. Many individuals noted and even wrote about how certain pieces of media and information that China would rather keep from its people were being hidden from outside parties as well. A rather notorious example of this is the infamous tank man photo, which displays a man in front of some “peacekeeping” tanks that the government sent out to dispel riots at Tiananmen Square in the 90’s. Of course the government, well known for its tendencies to selectively share and withhold information from its own people, would try and pull such a move with every other source of information available to them as well.
Therefore, it might strike the same government as being interesting to say the least that certain Chinese politicians and spokespeople are straight up not yielding any results across Bing. However, perhaps a much more likely explanation is that we’re seeing a repeat of the Tiananmen Square picture fiasco again. The Chinese government actively requesting that certain key “controversial” figures be kept away from its own people’s prying eyes sounds pretty in character for the authority. China’s not exactly known for being a country that appreciates anyone going against the ruling regime (to be fair, which country is?). Maybe Saudi Arabia can take a leaf out of the country’s book and just start censoring any and all information-laden platforms, and take a break from disappearing journalists for a change.
This was a joke, please do neither of the things suggested above, for the love of God.
Read next: Consumers Warm to AI Personalization Despite Privacy Concerns
Well, this is quite the interesting predicament that Bing has itself trapped in. It’s not like I expect a lawsuit dropping on the platform’s head at any moment, but reactions from China, which is a big market for the search engine, are going to be something. Assuming, of course, that news gets to them in the first place. Interestingly, the Chinese government has itself requested similar censorship from Bing, and higher-ups were happy enough to acquiesce. However, the devs ended up being a little too good at their jobs, because the resulting content censorship ended up spilling over to US audiences as well. Many individuals noted and even wrote about how certain pieces of media and information that China would rather keep from its people were being hidden from outside parties as well. A rather notorious example of this is the infamous tank man photo, which displays a man in front of some “peacekeeping” tanks that the government sent out to dispel riots at Tiananmen Square in the 90’s. Of course the government, well known for its tendencies to selectively share and withhold information from its own people, would try and pull such a move with every other source of information available to them as well.
Therefore, it might strike the same government as being interesting to say the least that certain Chinese politicians and spokespeople are straight up not yielding any results across Bing. However, perhaps a much more likely explanation is that we’re seeing a repeat of the Tiananmen Square picture fiasco again. The Chinese government actively requesting that certain key “controversial” figures be kept away from its own people’s prying eyes sounds pretty in character for the authority. China’s not exactly known for being a country that appreciates anyone going against the ruling regime (to be fair, which country is?). Maybe Saudi Arabia can take a leaf out of the country’s book and just start censoring any and all information-laden platforms, and take a break from disappearing journalists for a change.
This was a joke, please do neither of the things suggested above, for the love of God.
Read next: Consumers Warm to AI Personalization Despite Privacy Concerns
