Chinese internet users are reporting problems in using the search function on Google.com due to blockage by Chinese officials, the company said late Wednesday, DPA reported.
The issue is being closely watched amidst Google's battle to renew its license in mainland China against a Wednesday deadline. The company earlier Wednesday conceded to government demands that it stop redirecting mainland users to its uncensored website in Hong Kong in order to dodge restrictions.
The newest problem affects the Google Suggest function - the helpful hints that Google comes up with when users start typing a word into the search box.
Users in China reported receiving an error message when they tried to use the function.
"It appears that search queries produced by Google Suggest are being blocked for mainland users in China. Normal searches that do not use query suggestions are unaffected. As always, we will keep our China status page updated with the latest information," a US-based Google spokesperson said.
Google has been wrestling for months with the Chinese government over restrictions and censorship. One manoeuvre entailed linking mainland users to its Hong Kong website, which put its license at risk.
Bending to pressure, Google pledged to end the automatic re- routing within 48 hours, or by Friday. But it was not clear if its latest concession solved the problem.
Internet service providers and telecommunication firms are required to comply with government censorship rules and oversee the activities of China's estimated 400 million internet users.
In early June, the government said the posting of political content "endangering state security" or "subverting state power" would continue to be defined as a criminal act.
A special Google website monitors the blockage situation in China - http://www.google.com/prc/report.html#hl=en. According to the table, which is updated daily, China has partially blocked the web search function. YouTube, the photo service Picasa and blogging sites are fully blocked.