It is not at all a surprise that a lot of services provided online are not available in China because of the strict censorship done by the Chinese authorities. With most of the things and services that are available over the internet in China being Chinese, the few services that are from outside of China have to comply with the strict rules of the Chinese authorities.
They have to constantly make adjustments to their services to remain in China. The latest one is the Microsoft search engine Bing. The Chinese authorities have asked the search engine to change a few things about itself. What are they? Find out by reading on.
The changes to Bing
So, the Chinese authorities have asked Microsoft’s Binge to disable its auto-suggest feature in China. As per Chinese media, Microsoft’s Bing feature has been asked to be turned off for 7 days starting from 19th March 2022. This is not the first time though that the feature has been asked to be disabled. Earlier in December 2021, the Chinese authorities had for the first time, asked Bing to disable the feature for a whole 30 days. Now, people all over China are not getting why the bans on the feature had been and have been imposed. Let’s see that in a bit more detail.
Why the ban?
Well, right now no one knows why the ban has been put into force. The Chinese authorities definitely find something problematic with the feature but what exactly, is not clear. The Chinese authorities have not stated the reason nor have Microsoft said anything on the matter. Only the Chinese site of Bing has acknowledged the directive issued and has confirmed that the feature has been disabled. If the Chinese authorities have kept quiet then we may never get the explanation. What we do have is an explanation of the effect that this ban will have on Bing in China. Take a look at it just below.
Microsoft’s Bing after ban
Following the ban, the auto-suggest feature will no longer work in China. Meaning users of Bing in China will not get content suggestions based on the sites they visit and the personal preferences that they have provided to the search engine.
Users will no longer get suggestions for buying products or viewing certain articles online that they might be interested in. It is almost going to be like a person is using the internet in the 1990s. The next thing then to ask is how long is the ban going to be there?
Duration of the Microsoft’s Bing ban
As we have already mentioned, the current ban is for 7 days. Now from 19th March 2022, 7 days will be 25th March 2022. Thus, the ban should be lifted on or after 25th March 2022.
Well, that is hoping the Chinese authorities do not announce an extension for the current ban. Hopefully, there will be no further extension of the ban and Bing will be back to normal in China.
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