Google to Launch a Censored Search Engine in China

Google withdrew from China eight years ago to protest the country’s censorship and online hacking. Now, the Internet giant is working on a censored search engine for China that will filter websites and search terms that are blacklisted by the Chinese government.
Multiple media sources are reporting that Google is working on a search service for the Chinese market, specifically modified to meet the censorship demands of the country’s governing Communist Party.
Yet the existence of the project does not mean that Google’s return to China is imminent, the people cautioned. Google often builds and tests different services that never become publicly available.
Google is reportedly building a second app, focused on news aggregation, for the Chinese market, which would also comply with the country’s censorship laws, according to the Information tech news site.
The prospect of Google returning to China is in line with the trend of several US tech giants willing to tailor their products and services in order to gain access to the massive Chinese market. Facebook, LinkedIn and Apple are among those who in recent times have shown a willingness to meet Chinese expectations on privacy, or lack thereof.
Although talks between Google and the Chinese government are believed to be ongoing, they may be overshadowed by the developing trade conflict between the USA and China, which shows little sign of abating at the moment.
China’s search sector is currently dominated by Baidu, which heavily censors its searches. In order for Google to satisfy the Chinese government sufficiently to pave a way for its return to the market, it may have to provide similar levels of censorship controls.
“It will be a dark day for internet freedom if Google has acquiesced to China’s extreme censorship rules to gain market access,” was the response to the reports of Amnesty International.
>Juthy Saha