BEIJING (MEDIA REPORT)
Google is developing a version of its search engine that will conform to China’s censorship laws, reports say.
The company shut down the engine in 2010, complaining that free speech was being limited.
But online news site The Intercept says Google has being working on a project code-named Dragonfly that will block terms like human rights and religion, a move sure to anger activists.
One state-owned newspaper in China, Securities Daily, dismissed the report.
When questioned about the claim, a spokeswoman for Google provided a brief statement/
“We provide a number of mobile apps in China, such as Google Translate and Files Go, help Chinese developers, and have made significant investments in Chinese companies like JD.com,” it said.
“But we don’t comment on speculation about future plans.”
Citing internal Google documents and inside sources, it said that Dragonfly was begun back in the spring of 2017 and accelerated in December after Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai met a Chinese government official.
It said an Android app with versions called Maotai and Longfei had been developed and could be launched within nine months if Chinese government approval was won.