Google has begun redirecting its Chinese users to its Honk Kong site, following an ongoing row with the government over the censorship of its search results. The move has met condemnation from the Chinese government , branding Google’s decision as “totally wrong” and in violation of its promise to abide by Chinese laws. Users in […]
Google has begun redirecting its Chinese users to its Honk Kong site, following an ongoing row with the government over the censorship of its search results. The move has met condemnation from the Chinese government , branding Google’s decision as “totally wrong” and in violation of its promise to abide by Chinese laws.
Users in Mainland China will now get access to Google’s unrestricted Hong Kong site, although Chinese firewalls mean results still come back censored. Google threatened to leave the Chinese market completely this year after cyber attacks traced back to China.
23/03/2010
Earlier an official in the Chinese government office which oversees the internet said: “Google has violated its written promise it made when entering the Chinese market by stopping filtering its searching service and blaming China in insinuation for alleged hacker attacks.”
“This is totally wrong. We’re uncompromisingly opposed to the politicisation of commercial issues, and express our discontent and indignation to Google for its unreasonable accusations and conducts,” the unnamed official was quoted as saying by Chinese state news agency Xinhua.
While Google is the world’s most popular search engine, it is a distant number two in the Chinese market, which is dominated by Baidu.
However, because of the size and growth rate of China’s internet population, any loss of business there is likely to harm Google’s future growth prospects.
China operates one of the most sophisticated and wide-reaching censorship systems in the world.
Thousands of police officers are employed to monitor web activity and many automated systems watch blogs, chat rooms and other sites to ensure that banned subjects, such as Tiananmen Square, are not discussed.
