Just Google It? Not In China, Where Google Remains Blocked

A block on Google in China is nearing its third week, and some are predicting it could last a while longer.

Google search, Gmail and other services from the Internet giant became inaccessible on May 30 ahead of the anniversary of the Tiannamen Square massacre on June 4, 1989, when Chinese troops attacked unarmed pro-democracy protesters in Beijing, killing somewhere between a few hundred and thousands of people. The country’s censors have kept a close eye – and used a heavy hand – on discussion of it.

Google confirmed that the block wasn’t their doing, nor were there any technical problems on their end. The company moved its servers to Hong Kong from mainland China in 2010 after refusing to continue to self-censor search results.

Chinese web users are doing their best to get around the block. A growing number are using virtual private networks (VPN) to access Google from the mainland.

Read more: globalvoicesonline.org

Written by Abby Liu
Global Voices