Romney presses Microsoft over missing Tiananmen Square images

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) is pressing Microsoft over why image searches for “Tank Man,” the iconic Tiananmen Square Massacre figure, turned up no results temporarily last week.

On June 4, that particular search did not turn up results on Bing, Microsoft’s search engine. The same term did return information and articles with a generic, non-image, search. Other searches related to Tiananmen Square did return images.

Microsoft has said the situation was the result of “accidental human error.” The missing images reappeared outside of China the next day. References to the pro-democracy movement remain blocked inside the country by the government.

“However, the timing of the missing result – the 32nd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre – leads to further questions, especially given Microsoft’s operations in China,” Romney wrote in a letter to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella sent Tuesday.

The letter asks Microsoft what if any terms the Chinese Communist Party has requested that Microsoft block and for more details about the “error,” including where it originated.

The Utah lawmaker is asking for responses by June 22.

A spokesperson for Microsoft declined to comment beyond a statement on the incident itself.