Microsoft Bing restored in China after nearly a day-long outage

Mark Kauzlarich | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella speaks at an Economic Club of New York event in New York on Feb. 7, 2018.

Microsoft’s Bing search engine was restored in China Thursday after a nearly day-long outage, a company spokesperson confirmed to CNBC.

Users first reported the outage Thursday morning local time. The service was restored by 4:30 p.m. in New York on Thursday.

The temporary blockage of Microsoft’s Bing comes at a time when the U.S. and China are locked in a long-running trade dispute, with market participants increasingly concerned that the conflict could spill over into a so-called “tech war.”

The restoration of Bing will likely ease some concerns. Bing is the last major non-Chinese search platform that operates in China, and has apparently escaped a more permanent bar for the time being.

The internet is heavily censored in China as a form of information control. Many non-Chinese websites and social media services such as Google, Twitter and Facebook are blocked.

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