Microsoft accused of censoring Tiananmen Square 'tank man'

Microsoft came under fire for allegedly stopping users in some countries from viewing China's 'tank man'.

Users of the technology company's Bing search engine in the UK, US, Singapore and other countries were unable to view image search results for the query 'tank man'.

The phrase describes the lone protester standing before tanks during China's Tiananmen Square demonstrations in 1989, and the block coincided with  the 32nd anniversary of the protests. 

The incident prompted accusations of censorship; Microsoft blamed the omission on 'accidental human error'.

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• https://www.vice.com/en/article/qj8v9m/bing-censors-tank-man

• https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-57367100

• https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/microsoft-tank-man-censorship-due-human-error-78105315

• https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/jun/04/microsoft-bing-tiananmen-tank-man-results

• https://news.sky.com/story/microsoft-blames-accidental-human-error-for-tank-man-censorship-on-tiananmen-square-anniversary-12325233

• https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/05/business/bing-tank-man-microsoft.html

• https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/4/22519418/microsoft-bing-china-tank-man-tiananmen-square

• https://www.reuters.com/technology/microsoft-bing-raises-concerns-over-lack-image-results-tiananmen-tank-man-2021-06-04/

• https://gizmodo.com/microsoft-blames-human-error-amid-suspicion-it-censored-1847037545

• https://edition.cnn.com/2021/06/08/tech/mitt-romney-microsoft-tiananmen-square/index.html