As Tiananmen Turns 25, China Yanks Google

Search engine, Gmail services have been down since last week
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 2, 2014 11:34 AM CDT
As Tiananmen Turns 25, China Yanks Google
A shadow of a protester is seen in front of a mock tank, symbolizing the man blocking tanks at the 1989 movement, on a downtown street in Hong Kong, Sunday, June 1, 2014.   (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

One of China's most famous crackdowns—that at Tiananmen Square—turns 25 this week, and China is apparently marking the occasion with another crackdown, this time on Google, reports Reuters. Censorship watchdog GreatFire.org says that services including Gmail and the search engine have been disrupted since last week. "It is not clear that the block is a temporary measure around the anniversary or a permanent block. But because the block has lasted for four days, it's more likely that Google will be severely disrupted and barely usable from now on," it says in a blog post. Google says there are no problems on its end, and Beijing had no comment. Google now joins YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter on China's no-no list. (More Tiananmen Square stories.)

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