NEW YORK—Internet search and advertising giant Google Inc. officially announced that it would stop censoring its search services in China on Monday, bringing an end to a long saga that began in 2006 with their launch of its censored Google.cn Web site.
But Google also said that it would not completely shut down its Chinese business, and that it would continue to maintain a research and development office as well as a sales operation in the country.
Earlier on Monday, news media and users in China reported that attempts to visit Google.cn—Google’s Chinese search engine—on the browser brought up Google.com.hk, Google’s search engine hosted in Hong Kong. Later in the afternoon, Google confirmed the move, posting a notice on its official blog stating, “Users visiting Google.cn are now being redirected to Google.com.hk, where we are offering uncensored search in simplified Chinese, specifically designed for users in mainland China and delivered via our servers in Hong Kong.”
Google also stated on its blog that, “We believe this new approach of providing uncensored search in simplified Chinese from Google.com.hk is a sensible solution to the challenges we’ve faced—it’s entirely legal and will meaningfully increase access to information for people in China.”
The Chief Legal Officer of Google, David Drummond, said in the blog that, “We very much hope that the Chinese government respects our decision, though we are well aware that it could at any time block access to our services. We will therefore be carefully monitoring access issues.”
The Epoch Times reported on March 16 that some search results displayed uncensored results on Google’s Chinese search engine.
Frustration With Communist Regime
On Jan. 12, Google announced that it would consider stopping censorship of its Chinese search engine, and revealed that it and twenty other U.S. companies had been subjected to sophisticated cyber-attacks originating from China.
Google added to that announcement in its blog posting on Monday, saying that, “We also made clear that these attacks ... combined with attempts over the last year to further limit free speech on the Web in China including the persistent blocking of Web sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google Docs, and Blogger ... had led us to conclude that we could no longer continue censoring our results on Google.cn.”
Analysts have been wondering when and whether Google would make good on its promise to stop censoring its Chinese search results.
Human rights activists have been elated since Google announced that it would stop censoring Chinese search results. Benedict Rogers, author of “A Land Without Evil: Stopping the Genocide of Burma’s Karen People” said in a blog that “Google’s announcement is significant. For the global Internet search engine to turn its back on the Chinese market ... represents huge support for free speech and a stand against censorship.”
The move by Google is the first that comes as the Chinese regime continues to tighten its grip on dissent, especially on the Internet. The New York Times quoted Western business executives, saying that “Google’s decision is a symbol of a worsening business climate in China for foreign corporations and perhaps an indication that the Chinese government is favoring home-grown companies.”
Sales in China account for a very small portion of Google’s annual revenues. Insiders report the number as being around $150 million in the recent quarter, or around half a billion dollars annually. Google makes around $25 billion a year in revenue, mostly from advertising related to its search engine and Google AdWords.
Shares of Google finished up 0.4 percent on the NASDAQ stock exchange at Monday afternoon close.
