Security News > 2024 > March > Microsoft faces bipartisan criticism for alleged censorship on Bing in China

Microsoft is the subject of growing criticism in the US over allegations that its Bing search engine censors results for users in China that relate to sensitive subjects the state wants blocked.

Republican Senator Marco Rubio has added his voice to criticism of the Redmond software giant for reportedly removing search results from Bing on human rights, democracy, climate change, and other sticky issues within China.

The move follows an earlier call from Democrat Senator Mark Warner for Microsoft to consider shutting off access to Bing in China for the same reasons after a report from Bloomberg claimed the platform was excluding information on certain topics to satisfy Beijing.

Warner had earlier said that US companies should not be facilitating censorship by the People's Republic of China, noting that other US companies had pulled their services rather than be complicit with human rights abuses, "And Bing should consider doing the same."

"We asked Microsoft about this issue, and a spokesperson told The Reg:"Bing is the least censored search engine in China and is often the only accessible source for volumes of information there, even if we must eliminate certain results under Chinese law.

There is a long history of China censoring information and restricting what its citizens can see of the wider internet via the Great Firewall, and it isn't the first time this has involved Microsoft.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/21/microsoft_bing_china_criticism/