Google planning China search app
Google is preparing a version of its search engine for China that blocks results Beijing considers sensitive, according to people familiar with the situation.
The initiative is code-named Dragonfly and is one of several options the company is pursuing for returning to China, the people said, while noting timing is still up in the air. They asked not to be identified discussing private plans.
The move would mark an abrupt about-face by the Alphabet Inc unit and a win for China’s communist government, which suppresses free speech online.
Google co-founder Sergey Brin led a dramatic exit from mainland China in 2010 after the company refused to self-censor search content.
Brin has stepped back from dayto-day operations and the internet giant is now run by chief executive Sundar Pichai. Still, other Google employees were angered by the news on Wednesday.
Google researcher Meredith Whittaker described the company’s move as ‘‘ enabling mass politically directed censorship of[ AI-enabled] search’’.
She suggested the move may violate a recent Google pledge not to build technology that contravenes widely accepted principles on human rights. Other employees expressed similar frustration to Bloomberg News, but asked not to be identified.
Still, China has the world’s second-largest economy with a huge and fast-growing population of internet users. That’s hard for a for-profit corporation to resist.
‘‘Google is waking up to smell the coffee,’’ said Andy Mok, founder and president of Beijingbased consultancy Red Pagoda Resources. ‘‘Not being in China is a huge strategic miscalculation.’’
Google has been working on Dragonfly since the spring of 2017 and demonstrated a sanitised version of its search app to Chinese officials, the Intercept reported, citing company documents and unidentified people familiar with the matter.
A final version of the app could be launched within six to nine months, it said.
‘‘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. But we don’t comment on speculation about future plans,’’ Google said in an emailed statement.
Google insiders don’t know if China will approve the app amid an escalating trade dispute with the US, but Search head Ben Gomes told staff last month to be ready to launch on short notice.
– The Washington Post