Google has been blocked by Chinese officials. This is the first time since 2011 that China’s communist government has blocked the search giants access to the country’s search market, email, and other services.
Officials in China have not only targeted Google.com but also the company’s other platforms including Gmail, Google Analytics, Google Drive, Google Docs, Maps, Play Store, and various other Google-provided technology platforms
Google began tracking online censorship in China back in February 2011.
Users who attempt to access Google services are not taken to IP address 59.24.3.173. That IP address is located in Korea and doesn’t point to an active website.
China censorship monitoring website GreatFire notes that users can still use other countries’ versions of Google. To access Google, users cannot simply choose a DNS server outside of China as they have done in the past.
In 2010, China also took Google offline, but that block only lasted for 10 hours. This new attempt to censor Google arrives just as China’s Communist Party is holding its 18th Party Congress to choose the parties next leaders.
After the vote, Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping is expected to ascend to the top spot in the Chinese Communist Party, a position he will maintain for a 10 year period.
Google is a top five visited destination in China, but it still lags behind Baidu in terms of search volume.
This most recent Google ban will likely bring about the same type of political outrage felt during the first Google shutdown. Consumer demand quickly returned Google search status after only a short period of time.
