Google is Reportedly Developing A Censored Version of Search for China
Aug. 1, 2018China is notorious for itsinternet censorship. Just a few weeks ago, search queries related toJohn Oliverwere banned in China after the comedian made fun of Chinese President, Xi Jinping, on his show. The censorship meant Google was unwilling to launch its service in China, but it has not relented to revive operations in China, where homegrown Baidu is the preferred search engine.
According to a report fromThe Intercept, Google is gearing up to launch a censored version of search that will filter results. Keywords associated with human rights violations, religion, democracy and freedom of speech among others would reportedly be censored out of the search results.
DubbedMaotaiandLongfei, the app is yet to receive final approval from the government. The app will comply with China’s uncompromising censorship laws and only provide access to pages that are not deemed counter-doctrinal to the ruling party’s manifesto, especially content that challenges communist ideologies.
According to documents marked as ‘Google confidential’, the company’s China-friendly search app will automatically filter all websites which are blocked by The Great Firewall, the popular term used to describe China’s online content filtering system. In case users search for a blocked content, the first page of the search result will display a warning which reads,“some results may have been removed due to statutory requirements”.
The censorship will apply across on all extensions of Google search, including images, keyword recommendations, spell check and suggested searches. Google’s censored search engine will initially be available only as an Android app, however, there are no details about its availability for desktop.
