World News | Google stops Google Translate in mainland China

HONG KONG, Oct. 3 (AP) Google has stopped its Google Translate service in mainland China, removing one of the few remaining services the company offered in countries where most Western social media platforms are blocked.

The Google Translate app and website now display a universal search bar and a link that redirects Chinese users to its page in Hong Kong, which is blocked on the mainland.

Also read | Imran Khan evades contempt of court charges as Pakistan court withdraws cause-of-show notification case related to ‘threat’ of female judge.

According to Chinese social media posts, users reported being unable to access the service since Saturday.

The translation feature built into Google Chrome is also no longer available for Chinese users.

Also read | 2022 Nobel Prize in Medicine: Svante Paabo honored with prestigious award for his research on human evolution.

Google said in a statement that the Google Translate service has been discontinued in China due to “low usage.” It is unclear how many users use Google Translate in China.

The U.S. tech company’s relationship with China is worrying. In 2010, Google pulled its search engine from the Chinese market due to its unwillingness to comply with Chinese censorship.

China later began blocking other Google services, such as its email service Gmail and Google Maps.

Chinese authorities routinely block most Western social media platforms and services, including Google, Facebook and Twitter, as the government tries to maintain strict censorship rules.

Chinese platforms must strictly abide by these rules and censor keywords and topics that the authorities deem politically sensitive.

In 2017, Google provided translation services in the mainland through Chinese domain names, exploring ways to provide services in the Chinese market.

Its Google Translate service competes with other popular local translation services offered by Chinese tech companies such as Baidu and Sogou.

Google had explored launching a separate, censored search engine for China, but terminated the project in 2019 amid a global backlash. (Associated Press)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from the Syndicated News feed, the body of the content may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)