‘Tank Man’ avatar in Tianamanplein temporarily untraceable via Bing search engine, ‘human error’, says Microsoft

Across competing Google Images, there were hundreds of references to the well-known image. But the photo in China is unknown and simply cannot be found as a result of censorship. The Internet is closely monitored.

An extensive monitoring system filters out so-called “sensitive content”, such as pornography and political criticism. Everything that emerges about the 1989 student protests is closely watched. The Chinese regime also requires internet companies to do the censorship themselves, and hire people to do it: they are supposed to ensure the stability of the country.

Since most search engines and social networks do not follow strict Chinese regulations, they are banned in the country. A VPN connection is already required to bypass this ban. Bing is available in China.

The fact that the much-discussed image cannot be found by searches outside of China raises questions about potential censorship. After all, some employees who work specifically for Bing on behalf of Microsoft do so from China. Both Bing and LinkedIn – also owned by Microsoft – have admitted in the past to censoring their own content in China.