I think it's certainly a lie. Even if what they mean is "We accidentally censored in more locales than we wanted" they are lying by trying to conceal what happened rather than reveal it with misleading statements. Microsoft is censoring search results at either the explicit or implicit request of China. It's despicable.
> "We accidentally censored in more locales than we wanted"
If that actually did happen to be the reason, then "human error" would be completely accurate. Not even just technically correct, but a reasonable description.
No, it wouldn't be either. It's an incomplete description that intentionally creates the misleading interpretation that this wasn't intentional censorship but a mistake. In reality, this was intentional censorship, possibly applied in an overly broad way.
Saying things to intentionally cause your audience to come to incorrect conclusions is lying. A reasonable description does not omit relevant details.
Similar, if I said "My car accident was caused but human error" that would not be a correct or reasonable description if it were actually caused by my driving while drunk. I could as easily say it was caused by physics. The problem is that these lies elide my wrongdoing.
