Google closed yet another of its services in China on Monday (3). Therefore, anyone who tries to access the Google Translate page in the Asian country ends up being redirected to the Hong Kong version, which is inaccessible in the main part of the Chinese territory. The main reason is low usage, as stated by a spokesperson for the American company.
The discontinuation of the service was something to be expected, as the mobile application had already been closed in 2021. It is worth remembering that Google’s search feature left China in 2010. Soon after, Google Maps and Gmail also received the ax in the country. .
Even for such a strong brand worldwide, it is difficult to break the barriers of online censorship set by the government of the economic power.
Furthermore, we cannot ignore the strong name that Baidu is in this territory. In December 2021, for example, the search engine dominated more than 50% of the market. Bing and Sogou are in second and third position, with 18% and 12% respectively.
In other words, the “low usage” excuse for Google Translate makes a lot of sense.
The Chinese giant’s latest fiscal report pointed to $19.54 billion in revenue, according to the pandaily. This may seem a little close to Google’s $257.63 billion, but you have to remember the differences in locales. While Baidu is mainly located in China, the American company is present in several countries.
List of Western defeats in China is large
In 2018, some buzz claimed that Google was working on a version of its search engine that would respect the Chinese government’s censorship. However, he ended up withdrew from the plans because of the contrary reactions of his employees.
Apparently, many claimed that this would make the company an accomplice in the Asian country’s oppression. Let’s face it, it’s not an easy task for an American brand to enter the disputed market in China. It is necessary to respect the rules and accept the demands, something that not every company is willing to do.
Finally, it is worth noting that in 2021, Yahoo and LinkedIn completely stopped their investments in the region. The reasons are the same as always: “environmental difficulties for operations”.
These brands join Google, Nike, Mercedes Benz, Ebay and many others in the list of failures within the Chinese territory.
With information: Cnet.
https://tecnoblog.net/noticias/2022/10/04/google-tradutor-e-mais-um-servico-descontinuado-na-china/