According to a report in The Intercept, Google is going to formally re-enter the Chinese search market. The company reportedly is going to offer censorship of keywords and topics deemed sensitive by the Chinese government, including “human rights, democracy, religion, and peaceful protest.”
Apparently, talks between Google and Chinese officials have been ongoing for some time. Government officials have been shown prototypes, which presumably have met with their satisfaction. The Intercept says that a finalized mobile search app “could be launched in the next six to nine months.”
Nearly a decade ago, in January 2010, Google abruptly exited the Chinese market after Gmail was hacked by entities or individuals associated with the Chinese government, seeking to identify and crack down on human-rights activists. Google had, up to that point, been self-censoring search results in China but decided to discontinue the practice after the hacking incident.
As Google wrote at the time of the decision:
Since that decision, there has been a debate within the company about whether it should seek to re-enter the market. Then Google CEO Eric Schmidt expressed multiple times a desire to remain in the country if possible. Accordingly, Google started to soften its rhetoric and tone on China within a couple of years after the Gmail hacking.
China is the largest internet market in the world, and for that reason, it’s nearly impossible to resist the financial lure of the country — even with the moral and ethical compromises doing business there requires.
According to The Intercept’s report:
The story also says knowledge of these moves within the company has been restricted to only a few top executives. The public disclosure of this information is almost certain to result in controversy and potential employee protest.
Google is not commenting on “speculation about future plans.” Earlier this year, there was open employee revolt, and a few employees resigned in protest of Google’s intended use of its AI technology to support US Defense Department initiatives. This prompted the development of an AI manifesto of sorts, wherein Google promised not to use its AI technology to cause harm.
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