Google appears to have stopped access to Google Translate in some regions of China, sending users to a site in Hong Kong inaccessible from the Chinese mainland, as reported first by TechCrunch.
The search giant replaced the Google Translate interface at translate.google.cn with a standard Google Search page at some point during the previous 24 hours, according to Reddit users and site archives viewed by TechCrunch.
This photo taken on April 11, 2016 shows visitors gathering at Google booth during the 2016 China International Electronic Commerce Expo in Yiwu, east China's Zhejiang province. The on-going China International Electronic Commerce Expo, which is being held in eastern China's Yiwu city from April 11 to 13, has attracted 1,185 e-commerce companies from 12 countries including Canada, France and Germany.
"Low Usage"
According to reports, the modification affects Chrome's integrated translation capability as well as the translation capabilities of apps like the document viewer KOReader for users in China.
A company representative confirmed to TechCrunch via email that Google Translate has been discontinued in mainland China, citing "low usage." It's possible that there were other reasons for the decision, but there might be some truth to the claim that Google services are not used frequently in China as it competes with local tech giants Baidu and Alibaba.
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Google and China's History
It is worth noting that Google and the Chinese government have had a protracted and difficult relationship. The business first entered the Chinese market in 2006 using a search engine that the government censored.
Google has once shut down Google Search on the mainland and momentarily switched searches to its unfiltered Hong Kong domain after state-backed cyberattacks, and the government ordered blocks on Google services after a YouTube video was released showing Chinese security forces beating Tibetans.
TechCrunch noted that Google considered relaunching Google Search in China in 2018 and 2019 as part of a project code-named Dragonfly, which would have limited results and tracked users' whereabouts and web browsing histories.
However, those plans were ultimately upended as a result of disputes within Google, which were instigated by the firm's privacy team, as per The Intercept's report.
In 2020, Google announced that it would not directly respond to data requests from Hong Kong law enforcement and would instead require them to go through a mutual legal assistance treaty with the U.S.
This was in response to the passage of national security law in Hong Kong that gave local authorities significantly increased surveillance powers.
XIAN, CHINA - NOVEMBER 20: (CHINA OUT) An etiquette girl is reflected on a big screen at the Google's 2008 Xian winter marketing forum on November 20, 2008 in Xian of Shaanxi Province, China. Google has covered in China most of the commercial value of users, 88 percent of search products and user information in the use of Google.
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Written by Joaquin Victor Tacla
