Gmail Is Back Online In China

Google's email service was inaccessible in the country for around four days.

It's believed that China's "Great Firewall" was to blame. Officially known as Golden Shield, it's a web censorship tool used by the Chinese government to block access to certain websites.

There have been months of disruption in mainland China to the world's biggest email platform. GreatFire.org, a China-based freedom of speech advocacy group, reported that on Friday "large numbers" of Gmail web addresses were cut off, Reuters said.

Over the weekend and into Monday, users in China on POP and Imap servers had been completely unable to read their emails and send messages. The service was still down on Monday.

Although the Great Firewall is believed to be behind the incident, exact details remain uncovered. The Financial Times reports that users of Weibo, a Chinese social media site, were celebrating the return of the service.

Google didn't comment in full, but noted that in Asia the service has been checked and is working. However, it's not known for sure whether Gmail is entirely back up and running in China. And it's probable that issues will continue.

Google has a long record of problems operating in China. It moved its servers offshore in 2010 and its search service now runs through Hong Kong.