Google withdrew its search engine from China in 2010 due to heavy government internet censorship. Since then, Google has had a difficult relationship with the Chinese market. The end of Google Translate in China marks another retreat by the US tech giant from the world’s second largest economy.
Budrul Chukrut| SOPA images | flare | Getty Images
Alphabet’s Google announced Monday that it had shut down its Google Translate service in mainland China, citing low usage.
The move marks the end of one of the last remaining products in the world’s second largest economy.
The dedicated mainland China website for Google Translate now redirects users to the Hong Kong version of the service. However, this is not accessible from mainland China.
“We are phasing out Google Translate in mainland China due to low usage,” Google said in a statement.
Google has a strained relationship with the Chinese market. The US tech giant withdrew its search engine from China in 2010 due to strict government online censorship. Its other services – like Google Maps and Gmail – are also effectively blocked by the Chinese government.
As a result, local competitors like search engine Baidu and social media and gaming giant Tencent are dominating the Chinese internet landscape in areas ranging from search to translation.
Google has a very limited presence in China these days. Some of its hardware, including smartphones, is made in China. But the New York Times reported last month that Google has shifted some production of its Pixel phones to Vietnam.
The company is also trying to get Chinese developers to develop apps for its Android operating system worldwide, which will then be available through the Google Play Store, although the latter is blocked in China.
In 2018, Google considered re-entering China with its search engine, but scrapped the project after backlash from employees and politicians.
American companies are caught amid ongoing tech tensions between the US and China. Washington remains concerned about China’s potential access to sensitive technologies in areas like artificial intelligence and semiconductors.
In August, US chipmaker Nvidia announced that Washington would restrict the company’s sales of certain components to China.