Google’s China search services are partially blocked following the expiration of its operating license.
The company said search queries from mainland China users of the “suggest” function were blocked, but most other services were operating as normal.
The company said Tuesday it would no longer direct mainland Chinese search queries to Hong Kong, but would direct them to a landing page with the option of clicking through to google.com.hk.
Google’s internet content provider (ICP) license expired yesterday, without which its China operations could face a complete shut-down.
The partial blocking suggests that the government has not yet made a decision on Google’s status. Government officials have made no comment on the issue.
Wang Chen, head of the Information Office of the State Council, said that foreign firms operating in China “must abide by Chinese laws,” FT.com said.