Google is planning to launch a censored version of its search engine in China that will blacklist websites and search terms about human rights, democracy, religion, and peaceful protest…
The project – code-named Dragonfly – has been underway since spring of last year, and accelerated following a December 2017 meeting between Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai and a top Chinese government official, according to internal Google documents and people familiar with the plans.
Google hasn’t had a search product in China for over 10 years. The government’s strict policies around censorship have meant that the search engine giant couldn’t operate with such heavy restrictions.
The move to make a censored product is both equally parts alarming that a manipulated service can & will exist, and telling as to how important the Chinese market is to the mega corps of today.
Source: Google Plans to Launch Censored Search Engine in China, Leaked Documents Reveal