The Google China Controversy
In the UK we take freedom of expression for granted but the restrictions imposed by The Republic of China onto Google China may ultimately lead to Google’s complete withdrawal from the country. Until recently Google China was the Republic of China’s second most popular search engine after Baidu.
Google first launched in China in 2006, agreeing to censor results in accordance with Chinese wishes and from 2009 China blocked access to Google’s YouTube. In January this year Google announced that it was ‘no longer willing to continue censoring’ searches in China and that it was considering pulling out of the country. It redirected its searches to Google Hong Kong who are exempt from any restrictions under international law.
Google announced that it had been victim to sophisticated cyber attacks which appeared to originate from China. Other companies fell victim to similar attacks which consisted of a breach of Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists.
Google then entered into talks with the Chinese government to discuss ‘the basis on which we could run an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China.’ A temporary ban on Google was imposed by China on 31st March but was quickly withdrawn.
The Chinese government do not like to loose face and Google’s public show of displeasure has not gone down well. Ben Cavender, senior analyst at China Market Research Group in Shanghai said:
‘It’s possible for companies here to work with the government and work around issues if there’s a vested interest for both parties. But if you bring it out into a public forum, the government’s not going to be willing to lose face like that and step down.
‘You have to work within the rules, and if you don’t, the government is going to make you follow the rules, whether that means shutting you down or censoring or something else.’
According to experts, ordinary Chinese are not perturbed that their search results are censored. Andrew Lih, a professor in journalism and media, said:
‘You would be surprised how little people want to or need to access stuff that is blocked or restricted by the Great Firewall.’
There is big business to be made for Google in China and their agreement to adhere to censorship restrictions in the past does contravene their distaste for censorship. Last year they reluctantly pulled a racist picture of Michelle Obama from their search after an enormous public outcry. Unfortunately for Google the current controversy is far from over.
Tags: Google China, Google Hong Kong