Google Services Blocked By China Ahead Of Tiananmen Square Anniversary

Google Blocked By China Ahead Of Tiananmen Square Anniversary
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ASSOCIATED PRESS

China has started blocking access to Google's services including Gmail, Google Calendar and more in the lead up to the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square demonstrations.

According to censorship watchdog Greatfire.org the Chinese Government has started slowing down access to Google's services ahead of what is expected to be a complete block.

The government is believed to be slowing down access ahead of expected protests on the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy demonstrations in 1989.

This isn't the first time the government has blocked Google's services with Greatfire.org reporting a complete blockade for 12 hours in 2012 however there are concerns that the current restrictions are not simply a temporary ban.

"It is not clear if the blockade is temporary or if they're permanent blocking measures before the Tiananmen Square anniversary. But the blockade has been four days, and we're guessing Google is about to be permanently blocked."

Google's own transparency report, which tracks global traffic, is reporting a significant drop in traffic from the region.

The search engine actually left China officially in 2010 blaming censorship issues from the Chinese government, it now operates in Hong Kong.

The Chinese government currently blocks a variety of different websites including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

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