Google discontinues its Translate App for China as part of its ongoing retreat

• For users in China, the app now shows an error notice. In 2010, Google withdrew its major search service from the nation.
• Google shut down its Translate app for China, removing one of the few remaining services provided by the US company in the world’s largest internet market.

In China, the service’s web page currently displays a snapshot of a generic search bar that leads to Google’s Hong Kong translation site, which is inaccessible from the mainland. “Due to limited use, we have suspended Google Translate in mainland China,” a company official stated in a statement.

Alphabet Inc.’s Google, which removed its search engine from mainland China in 2010 due to the government’s censoring of online material, has looked into methods to maintain a presence. It launched its translation service in the nation in 2017 via a dedicated website and smartphone app. Google has also contemplated developing a distinct, prototype search engine for the Chinese market, but that project was eventually cancelled.

The translation service’s demise comes as US-China tensions rise and both governments work to safeguard key technologies and intellectual property. It comes at a critical juncture, with a pivotal Party Congress slated to begin later this month.