China Blocks Bing’s Auto-Suggest Function

Bing

For one week, China users of Bing can’t use the Microsoft Corp.’s search engine auto-suggest function, Reuters reported Monday (March 21).

This is the second time since December that the People’s Republic of China has sanctioned Bing since December. It comes amid a Beijing crackdown on tech platforms and algorithms. Internet users in China noticed the first spotted the interruption on Saturday (March 19).

“Bing is a global search platform and remains committed to respecting the rule of law and users’ right to access information,” Bing wrote on its China search site.

Bing gave no reason for the suspension, and Microsoft did not respond to requests for comment.

Online companies doing business in China have faced a torrent of regulatory crackdowns, from privacy to content.

In January, PYMNTS reported China will require the country’s biggest internet firms to get approval for any investment deals they make as part of new rules that are likely to keep Big Tech firms from getting even bigger through acquisitions.

See also: China Unveils Stricter Big Tech Investment Rules

The Cyberspace Administration of China, the company’s top internet regulator, recently enacted a new policy that required internet companies to obtain formal approval for investment deals if they have 100 million users or more or have posted revenue of at least 10 billion yuan ($1.57 billion) in revenues in the past year. Some companies were notified of the changes last month.

The new rules will impact China’s biggest tech companies, including Tencent Holdings Ltd., Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and ByteDance Ltd., all of which have more than 1 billion users.

Last summer, China announced it would adopt strict data privacy laws.

Read more: China Passes Far-Reaching Regulations To Protect User Privacy

The law, which took effect in November, stipulated that any handling of people’s personal information would be restricted to the “minimum scope necessary to achieve the goals of handling” data.