Microsoft says the “unexpected human error” caused the famous “Tank Man” image to disappear from its Bing search engine.
This is a famous picture of a Chinese protester standing alone in front of tanks in Tiananmen Square during the 1989 protests.
People who searched for the image on Friday in the search engine did not get any results, which led some to believe that the content was censored.
The term “tank man” was used to refer to a person whose identity has not been determined, and in June 1989 a picture was taken of him standing in front of a tank in Tiananmen Square.
It disappeared when users in the US, UK and Singapore tried to search for the image on its 32nd anniversary.
China strictly censors online discussion of Tiananmen Square events The event, which commemorates this year’s event in Hong Kong, was held in moderation after authorities banned night meetings.
It is known that Beijing has asked search engines operating in their area to impose censorship, but this censorship is rarely applied in other parts of the world.
Photo released, EPA
Protests in Hong Kong were small
Microsoft said it was caused by technically negligent human error, but Human Rights Watch director Kenneth Roth said it was hard to believe.
The picture of the man in front of the tank was reported missing and reappeared hours later.
Google’s search engine searched for the image on Friday and found several versions of it.
Notably, Microsoft’s “Bing” engine is one of the few foreign search engines available in China.
Authorities in China are using technology to block American technology platforms, including Facebook and Twitter.
In China, Bing and LinkedIn are reportedly being censored.
Bing was briefly blocked in 2019, with some saying it was blocked by authorities.
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