Google censorship battle with China continues

The battle between China and Internet giants Google has been ongoing for a while now, as Google automatically redirected Chinese surfers to Hong Kong’s Google page, in a bid to navigate through China’s strict censorship laws.

This week, Google has announced that they are trying a new approach to the issue, following threats that Beijing could retract Google’s operational license if the redirection continues.

New plans involve taking Chinese users to a Google landing page, which then directs them to the Hong Kong site. While the change is minimal, it is hoped that it will be enough to appease Chinese users and enable the firm’s continued operation within China. The announcement came the day before Google’s ICP licence within China was about to expire.
Google has always had a tempestuous relationship with Chinese internet governing bodies, through issues including censorship, alleged cyber attacks and political run-ins. Google is the second most used search engine site in the country. As the most prolific internet market, it makes sense for Google to continue to remain within the country and provide a service.

Google spokesperson David Drummond commented: “Without an ICP licence, we can’t operate a commercial website like Google.cn—so Google would effectively go dark in China. That’s a prospect dreaded by many of our Chinese users, who have been vocal about their desire to keep Google.cn alive. Over the next few days we’ll end the redirect entirely, taking all our Chinese users to our new landing page—and today we re-submitted our ICP licence renewal application based on this approach. This move is part of Google’s ambition to make information available to users everywhere. This new approach is consistent with our commitment not to self censor and, we believe, with local law. We are therefore hopeful that our licence will be renewed.”

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