Google's English-language website is running normally in China
after being inaccessible for more than two hours yesterday,
according to state media.
The China Daily newspaper said the outage also cut off access to
Gmail, Google's e-mail service, but did not affect
Google's Chinese-language website, according to reports by
AFP.
Observers speculated that the outage was connected to
state pressure on Google to stop porn appearing on its Chinese
site.
Google has not commented on the outage, but
announced yesterday that it had re-engineered the site to meet
the demands of Chinese authorities.
The move comes after Google promised last week to work harder to
eliminate pornography after complaints by a Chinese government
Internet watchdog.
Earlier this month the Chinese government said every PC in the
country must be sold with software that can
block access to online pornography from next month.
The move has raised concerns that China could be trying to take
its internet censorship to a new level by using the software to
block all information critical of authorities.