Google Scrambles To Suppress Damaging Internal Memo On Building ‘Censorship Compliant’ Search Engine For China

Google's internal security team, as well as the company's human resources department, are scurrying to stop the company's employees from further disseminating a memo containing explosive information about stealth project that aims to build a search engine for China that will comply with the country's draconian censorship law, The Intercept has reported.

The author of the memo was identified by The Intercept report as an engineer who is assigned to work in Project Dragonfly, the codename for the secret work in progress project.

The scramble within Google to suppress the memo is attributed to its content contradicting earlier claims made by Google's CEO Sundar Pichai that the company was merely exploring about building a Chinese search engine.

As per the report, the memo contains details on how the search engine would need users to log in before they can perform searches. The software would also track the user location.

The memo also contained information that the search history of Chinese users would be shared with a third-party Chinese company, which could then be available to government authorities.

The Intercept reported that Google's leaders learned of the memo and then made attempts to force workers who accessed or saved the memo to delete the information. The emails from HR contained special 'pixel trackers' to let HR know which employees had read the note.

Earlier this August, it was reported that Google wished to re-enter the Chinese market by launching a censored version of its search engine that will adhere to the draconian content regulation enforced by the ruling communist regime.

Google’s search service is currently unavailable for internet users in China because it is blocked by the country’s formidable Great Firewall, named after the Great Wall of China.

The great firewall of China, which combines technological framework and legal stipulations, blacklists several websites and suppresses search terms about human rights, democracy, religion, and peaceful protests.

The search engine project, which is internally code-named Dragonfly, was conceptualised last year and has gained momentum following a December 2017 meeting between Google’s Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai and a top Chinese government official.

The Intercept report also adds that Google has created customised Android apps, demonstrated them to the Chinese internet officials. It is likely to launch these in the next six to nine months, once China approves.

The report further adds that “the Chinese search app will automatically identify and filter websites blocked by the Great Firewall. When a person searches, banned websites will be removed from the first page of results, and a disclaimer will be displayed stating that some results may have been removed due to statutory requirements.”

In 2010, Google had decided to shut down its Chinese search engine and moved its Chinese-language search platform to Hong Kong.

Google‘s China relaunch is certain to raise serious questions about the company’s values and ethics, given China’s long history of suppressing free speech by clamping down on the internet.