Microsoft's Bing search engine appears to be censoring image results for "tank man"—a reference to the lone protester who stood in front of Chinese tanks—on the 32nd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre vice.com/en/article/qj8…
Meanwhile, a search for "tank man" on Google images displays what you would expect. Both the search on Google and Bing were made from the US, not China.
To be clear, searching "tank man" on either Google or Bing does return the relevant web results.
It's the image results on Bing that don't return any results. This could be a simple glitch at the end of the day. I reached out to Microsoft to ask.
Image search results from DuckDuckGo as well. Again, this could be something other than purposeful censorship. Also reached out to DuckDuckgo.
I tried a much more specific image search on Bing: "Tiananmen Square Massacre Tank Man."
These were the results.
What's interesting is Bing offers you other image search suggestions. This suggestion (left) literally shows the iconic "tank man" photo.
But when you actually click it, none of the results show that photo.
A Microsoft spokesperson tells me that "accidental human error" is to blame for missing images of "tank man" on its Bing search results.
"We are actively working to resolve this."
The incident comes on the 32nd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre.
Search engine @DuckDuckGo tells me in a statement that it relies on Bing for image search results and therefore was also affected by the “tank man” issue.
The company added that it does “not have any active presence” in China due to being blocked by the country’s government.
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