‘Google wants to offer censored version of search app in China’
According to The Intercept, Google plans to release a search app in China that will censor results on certain sensitive topics. Google does not deny this, but says it will not comment on speculation about future plans.
According to information from the website The Intercept, which claims to rely on documents and sources within the search giant, Google internally refers to the project around the modified Android app as Dragonfly. Its actual launch would depend on two factors: the app must receive approval from the Chinese government and must be better than China’s rival search service Baidu. Due to the trade war, government approval would be uncertain, but Google is said to have instructed employees to make it possible to release the app within a short time. Within Google, only a few hundred employees would be aware of the project. Google would like to offer the service in the form of a joint venture with another party.
The Intercept’s sources say the custom app censors search results on topics such as human rights, democracy, religion and peaceful protests. The BBC and Wikipedia would also be among the filtered information sources. Work on the software is said to have started in the spring of 2017 and has accelerated since a meeting between Google CEO Sundar Pichai and a high-ranking Chinese government official in December. According to The Intercept, Pichai has sought more rapprochement with China and the change in policy may have been prompted by China’s market of 750 million internet users.
Offering the search app represents a fundamental change in Google’s policy towards China, the site said. Google was previously available in censored form between 2006 and 2010, but announced in the latter year that it was leaving China due to censorship. An Amnesty International researcher tells The Intercept that Google’s decision to offer a censored search app in China could also affect the rest of the world, as the move would set a “terrible precedent.” Other companies are also affected by the Chinese policy on internet services. For example, Apple removed VPN apps from the Chinese App Store.