Mediaboss Marketing

HONG KONG (CNNMoney)

Other Google (GOOG) products, including Search, Sites and Picasa, have been similarly targeted by Chinese government agencies that govern Internet and social media content.

With Gmail access now severely restricted, Google's suite of services are largely blacked out in China.

Some Gmail users in China reported on Twitter Tuesday that service had been restored. But Google's own data still shows that fewer than 20% of people in China can access their Gmail.

The outcry over the latest blockage was swift and angry. Business travelers complained they will no longer be able to access email while in China without jumping through hoops. Their Chinese counterparts complained that it will now be more difficult to conduct business internationally.

And Google is hardly alone.

Related: Banned! 8 things you won't find in China

Access to Twitter (TWTR, Tech30), Facebook (FB, Tech30) and YouTube is blocked in China. During recent pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, the Facebook-owned photo sharing app Instagram was blacked out on the Mainland.

Taken together, the restrictions constitute the world's largest -- and most effective -- state-sponsored censorship program. The effort, officially called "Golden Shield," is more than a decade old.

The program allows Beijing to restrict content it deems sensitive (on democracy, Tibet or the Uighur ethnic group, for example). Thousands of websites are blocked outright, and Chinese citizens that offend authorities can face judicial consequences.

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China's Great Firewall is nearly complete