Google is prepared to leave from China the world’s biggest online market and would not compromise on the censorship of its web search engine. A top Google official told US lawmakers that the company was firm on its stand that it will not allow censorship of its contents in China.
“We are currently reviewing our business operations in China as we no longer feel comfortable censoring our search results in that country,” Nicole Wong, vice-president of Google, said in his testimony before a Congressional committee. Wong’s remarks of his company being prepared to leave China came as it said that it was in talks with Beijing on the future of its internet services.
Wong said the company in its investigations had discovered that the accounts of dozens of Gmail users around the world, who advocate for human rights in China, appeared to have been accessed by third parties. This, he said, happened independent of the attack on Google, through phishing or malware placed on those users’ computers. “These circumstances, as well as attempts over the past year to limit free speech online, led us to conclude that we no longer feel comfortable censoring our search results in China. We are currently reviewing our business operations there,” Wong said.
Google threatened to leave China in January over what it said were cyber attacks at its source code and Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. Google said the US government should promote internet openness as a major plank of US foreign policy. Free flow of information is an important part of diplomacy, foreign assistance and engagement on human rights, Wong told the Congressional committee. He also cautioned that internet censorship should be part of US trade agenda because it has serious economic implications.
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