In the latest move by China to further strengthen its so-called Great Firewall regulating the online activities of its citizens, the government has blocked Google’s email service Gmail.
The unprecedented total block of Gmail in recent days made it impossible for Chinese users to retrieve or send emails.
It’s not the first time Google has been targeted in China with censorship crackdowns, along with other companies including photo-sharing giant Instagram, which was blocked during the recent Hong Kong riots.
LinkedIn is also undergoing content censorship for Chinese users and the New York Times and Bloomberg have been blocked since 2012 after reporting on party leaders viewed as undesirable by the government.
Google also withdrew from China several years ago when executives wouldn’t comply with government censorship demands.
The conversation discusses whether the Chinese government’s move could be purely business based, possibly in an attempt to boost business for the country’s chief competitor, Baidu. It’s pointed out, for example, that Yahoo is allowed to operate relatively freely in China because of its early investment in Alibaba, which has been highly successful in China and beyond.
Officially, the Chinese government denies intervention to block Google or any other foreign firm to give the advantage to local companies.
“China has consistently had a welcoming and supportive attitude towards foreign investors doing legitimate business here,” said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying. “We will, as always, provide an open, transparent and good environment for foreign companies in China.”
Comments