Google 'working on censored search engine' for China
Thu 2 Aug 2018 04.27 BST
Google has been condemned for supporting state censorship following reports that the company is working on a mobile search app that would block certain search terms and allow it to reenter the Chinese market.

The California-based internet company has engineers designing search software that would leave out content blacklisted by the Chinese government, according to a New York Times report citing two unnamed people familiar with the effort. Such blacklisting would allow the company to reverse its move out of the country eight years ago, taken due to censorship and hacking.

News website The Intercept first reported the story, saying the Chinese search app was being tailored for the Google-backed Android operating system for mobile devices.

The service was said to have been shown to Chinese officials. Google did not respond to a request for comment. The state-owned China Securities Daily, citing information from “relevant departments”, denied the report.

As well as the search app, Google is also reportedly building a second app, focused on news aggregation, for the Chinese market, which would also comply with the country’s censorship laws, according to tech news site the Information. The news app would take its lead from popular algorithmically-curated apps such as Bytedance’s Toutiao – released for the Western market as “TopBuzz” – that eschew human editors in favour of personalised, highly viral content.

There was no guarantee the project, code-named “Dragonfly” would result in Google search returning to China. Google already offers a number of apps to Chinese users, including Google Translate and Files Go, and the company has offices in Beijing, Shenzhen and Shanghai. But the largest of its services – search, email, and the Play app store – are all unavailable in the country.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/ ... -for-china

Google plans return to Chinese market with censored app
August 3, 2018
BEIJING (Reuters) – Alphabet Inc’s Google plans to launch a version of its search engine in China that will block some websites and search terms, two sources said, in a move that could mark its return to a market it abandoned eight years ago on censorship concerns.

The plan, which was criticized by human rights advocates, comes as China has stepped up scrutiny of business dealings involving US tech firms including Facebook Inc, Apple Inc and Qualcomm Inc amid intensifying trade tensions between Beijing and Washington.

Google, which quit China’s search engine market in 2010, has been actively seeking ways to re-enter China where many of its products are blocked by regulators.

The Intercept earlier reported Google’s China plans on Wednesday, citing internal Google documents and people familiar with the plans.

The project is code named “Dragonfly” and has been underway since the spring of 2017, the news website said.

Search terms about human rights, democracy, religion and peaceful protests will be among the words blacklisted in the search engine app, which The Intercept said had already been demonstrated to the Chinese government.

The finalised version could be launched in the next six to nine months, pending approval from Chinese officials, it added.
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50518957/g ... sored-app/

Why Facebook and Google’s China dream will cost more than it pays
13 Aug 2018
Even if the tech giants succeed in gaining a toehold in the China market they will start at a disadvantage to local competitors, face labyrinthine regulation and leave themselves open to interference from Beijing...
https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/ ... re-it-pays