Google is huge. In terms of share of market, in terms of revenue, in terms of liquid reserves it holds, in terms of geographical presence. In every possible sense, that is. Is there anything that can force an enterprise like Google to step back and do a rethink on its policy of providing uncensored and unbiased results to millions of search queries posted by its users? Yes, There is. The largest internet market in the world. China.
When, in January this year, Google discovered cyber attacks originating in China on its databases, it talked in plain terms with the Chinese Government. It stopped censoring search results on its Chinese site. In March, when it closed its Internet search service in China, we all thought that Google is simply unwilling to compromise on Internet censorship. Only to be proved wrong.
As Google restarts its operations following a review of its Internet Content Provider (ICP) license, the question many are asking is- Did Google bow down to pressure from Chinese authorities? Most probably, Yes. Google decided to continue censoring results to avoid being kicked out of a rapidly growing Chinese market. Maybe for China, “Be a little evil” can be a new tagline for Google.
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