International

Google shuts down China Site over Censorship Disagreement

Molly Burns

On Monday March 22, 2010 after almost two months of warnings, Google closed its Internet search engine in China. Google redirected its users to its uncensored search engine in Hong Kong because of China’s censorship laws for its citizens. On Tuesday March 23rd users who went to google.cn (Google’s Chinese site) were sent directly to the Hong Kong address, google.com.hk. By the same day, Chinese users living outside Hong Kong could not see uncensored content from the Hong Kong search engine because government computers had disabled searches sensitive content or blocked links to specific search results. This move exhibits the reaction the Chinese government has taken towards Google’s decision and its failure to take into account China’s censorship laws. Additionally, China Mobile is expected to cancel a deal that would make Google the search engine on its cell phones. Although the search engine is gone, Google will keep its research and development team in China and will also continue to provide the services of online maps and music.

• Hong Kong-One of China’s two administrative regions which runs a system that is economically and politically different than that of China’s mainland.
• China Mobile- China’s biggest cellular communications company, used by millions of people.

• Argument for: Google’s move represents a rejection of China’s censorship of its citizens and brings global attention to the issue.
• Argument against: Depending upon the Chinese government’s reaction, Google could seriously jeopardize its relationship with the world’s largest Internet market (nearly 400 million Web users).

Additional reading:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/23/technology/23google.html?fta=y

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/24/technology/24google.html?hp

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8582233.stm