Google Shuts Down Translate Services in Mainland China

gizmodo ^ | 10/03/2022 | Kyle Barr

[BenLurkin]

Attempts to access Google Translate’s old mainland China address are now redirected to the Hong Kong site. Bloomberg noted that the Hong Kong version of the site isn’t accessible on the mainland without a VPN, marking Google’s move as an effective shutdown of the service.

Google did not immediately respond to Gizmodo’s request for comment, but the company did confirm with multiple outlets that it had discontinued the service in China “due to low usage.” TechCrunch, which initially reported on the news Friday, noted that the hubbub surrounding the upcoming National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, which would mark the third term of the country’s President Xi Jingping, may have something to do with Google’s decision-making. Google China only owns a sub-2% slice of the online search pie in the country, according to Investopedia

Google was stuck in the weeds of the Beijing government’s overriding censorship policies. The search giant has reportedly suffered from state-sponsored hacks that sapped the company of its intellectual property and invaded the Gmail addresses of human rights activists. In 2010, Google revealed it would no longer kowtow to China’s requests for censorship.

That stated policy could only last so long. In 2018, reports showed Google was planning to create a version of its search engine, codenamed Dragonfly, that would restrict Chinese citizens from seeing content their government didn’t want to be seen.

[PGR88]

Social-media / tech is like oil in the 1960s - every large power wants its own national champion that it controls.

[packagingguy]

Baidu and Yandex will pick up the business. Google isn’t the only game in town.