Security News > 2022 > May > Microsoft Bing censors politically sensitive Chinese terms

Microsoft search engine Bing censors terms deemed sensitive in China from its autosuggestion feature internationally, according to research from Citizen Lab.

The University of Toronto research organization analyzed the search engine's autosuggestion system for censorship of nearly 100,000 names in the United States, Canada and China in both English letters and Chinese characters.

The Citizen Lab group claims it found that censored individuals primarily related to Chinese political sensitivity when the word was written in Chinese characters, or names falling under an umbrella that the group termed "Eroticism" if searched in English letters.

In English, the names were associated with burlesque dancers, pornographers, glamour models, leaks of stolen nude pics and similar and also the names of drag queens.

Chinese character names not showing up in autofill included incumbent leaders like Xi Jinping, retired officials like Wen Jiabao, historical figures like Chinese Communist Party co-founder Li Dazhao as well as politically sensitive search terms such as the names of people involved in scandals or power struggles.

Citizen Lab reasoned that the censorship of Chinese leaders' names in the domestic and international versions of Bing in China may be due to Microsoft's compliance with Chinese laws and regulations.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2022/05/20/citizen_lab_microsoft_bing_report/