iStock Editorial(NEW YORK) — Access to Google’s Gmail email service dropped to a near-zero level over the weekend in China, leading many to wonder if it was the latest move by regulators to counter the search giant’s presence in the country.
Google told ABC News that the company has “checked and there’s nothing technically wrong on our end.”
Data from Google’s Transparency Report shows Gmail traffic plummeted to nearly zero Friday afternoon, with the flat line extending through the weekend.
Preliminary data showed a slight uptick on Monday, but access to Gmail has not been restored to previous use levels.
China’s state-run Internet Information Office did not respond to a request for comment.
Google shut down its search engine in mainland China in 2009 in protest of the country’s online censorship. Since then, access to Google’s suite of products has been severely limited and blocked in China.
Gmail access has been intermittently blocked in 2014 as far back as May 31, according to GreatFire.org, a website monitoring Internet freedom in China.
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