Microsoft's Bing search engine goes offline in China, raising fears it was 'walled off'

BEIJING - The Microsoft-run search engine Bing was unavailable in mainland China late Wednesday, raising concerns among some social media users that it could be the latest foreign website to be blocked by censors. It is not clear whether Bing has joined China's long list of prohibited websites or if its China service is experiencing technical difficulties. Facebook, Twitter and a host of Western media websites are blocked in China. While its rival Google shut down its search engine in China in 2010, Bing has continued to operate in the country along with Microsoft-owned Skype. On Weibo, China's Twitter-like social media site, people complained about the lack of access, with some speculating that Bing too had been "walled off.