Google Plans To Launch Censored Search Engine In China, Leaked Documents Reveal

Last week, the Intercept broke the news that Google has been quietly developing a censored version of its search engine to launch in China. Code-named Dragonfly, the secret project aims to create an Android search app that would "blacklist websites and search terms about human rights, democracy, religion, and peaceful protest" in line with strict and repressive Chinese censorship. The leaked documents brought to light by a troubled employee whistleblower show that Google, which pulled its search engine out of China in 2010, has been actively seeking ways to re-enter the country's lucrative market and get access to China's 772 million internet users – the most of any country in the world. In fact, the company has been courting Chinese government for months now, with its CEO Sundar Pichai meeting a Chinese government official in December 2017. 

The Intercept article is a newsworthy story that triggered a storm of responses. Since its publication, the report has been picked up by other outlets, including Reuters, Bloomberg, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, CNN, Mashable, WIRED, the Verge, Vice and Vox. And once the project had made the headlines, Google has met with swift and immediate backlash. The avalanche of criticism has been coming from everywhere: the human rights organizations, U.S. lawmakers, but most importantly, from Google's own employees, who view the plans as a betrayal of company values as reflected in the recently downgraded Google motto "don't be evil".

The Intercept's reporting raises important questions about Google's accountability and corporate transparency and adds to the discussion on how employee actions can put a pinch on tech companies and ensure the ethical use of technology. Just recently, amid wide-spread employee protests triggered by Gizmodo's reporting, Google has backed off from an artificial intelligence drone program for the Pentagon. Who knows? The Intercept's story might spark a similar uproar.