Google accused over child abuse

JEREMY Hunt has accused Google of hypocrisy over its refusal to help police remove images of child abuse.

The Foreign Secretary said it was extraordinary the tech giant was creating a censored version of its search engine for China while refusing to cooperate with authorities in the West.

He said the American firm appeared to be guilty of betraying the values it ‘used to be so proud of’.

His intervention follows widespread criticism of Google for failure to take down criminal and offensive content and fake news. The corporation, whose founding motto was ‘Don’t Be Evil’, is under fire for agreeing to Chinese demands to block sites disapproved of by communist leaders in Beijing.

Google yesterday insisted it was cooperating with the authorities.

A spokesman said: ‘We agree with Jeremy Hunt that child sexual abuse is abhorrent and must be removed, that’s why we co-operate with governments to fight child sexual abuse online.’