Google Disables Access To Its Translate App In Certain Areas Of China

Internet users in China are complaining of disabled access to Google Translate. And that is causing them to be redirected to the app’s domain situated in Hong Kong. While it might not seem like a huge problem to many, well, this isn’t accessible via the mainland and that’s a major concern.

Users of Reddit claim Google tried to swap out its Translate interface at translate.google.cn using a generic search page on Google at a certain point in the past 24 hours.

This particular change is really causing an uproar as the main translation features are getting affected such as KOReader. This is the name given to the document viewer that’s based on users in China. Similarly, it’s designed to facilitate Google Chrome’s translation feature that’s built into the app.

At the moment, Google is yet to respond to any request for comments.

We know that Google hasn’t had the best relationship with China’s government. In the year 2006, we saw the firm enter the market in China with a new version of its Search Engine. This was reportedly subject to great censorship rules by the government.

However, after a few state-sponsored tricks up their sleeve and some government-ordered blocks on a series of services, Google was really seen shutting down its Search in main areas of China. This was followed by a rerouting of searches via Hong Kong’s uncensored domain.

Google also was seen exploring the relaunch of its Search in China in the years 2018 and 2019. This was a part of its new project called Dragonfly. This would have censored out results and also be able to record locations of so many users with a complete history of internet browsing. Thankfully, such plans were removed after a few clashes that came about due to the search engine giant’s privacy team, as mentioned in a report by The Intercept.

Meanwhile, in the year 2020, we saw a new law regarding national security come forward in Hong Kong. This gave way to locals who would be seen expanding their surveillance powers. For now, Google says it’s not keen on sending out a response to any form of data request related to Hong Kong’s law and its enforcement.

They would much rather go forward with a legal obligation treat with America on the matter.

For them, this is no longer a technical issue. Google Translate gets disabled in most parts of the mainland and needs to be related to the new National Congress of the country’s Communist Part. This will occur on the 16 of this month.

In case you didn’t know, China’s government has blocked out services by Google surrounding some huge political events. And then there’s an issue related to sensitive anniversaries such as the Tiananmen Square Massacre.

China has also been accused of silencing its own citizens from speaking about the government so as you can see, it’s a sensitive matter altogether.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World