Google accepts censorship as it officially launches Google China Search Engine

Google accepts censorship as it officially launches Google China Search Engine

US based search engine giants Google has now officially launched its Chinese version of Google Search Engine. This means that the company would now be subjecting itself to self-censorship so as to comply with the rulings and laws of the land. The company also becomes one of the largest US based tech companies to setup a unit in China.

The official launch of the Google Search Engine in China comes after months of internal wrangling over how to balance business interests against its distaste at having to comply with China’s restrictive speech policies. China is often criticized for its restrictions on the Chinese web users when it comes to freedom of speech. Bloggers are told to register their Blog with relevant authorities and many journalists have been jailed for years for representing their views online.

Google has said that they are making a targeted entry into the Chinese market with four of its core services. Chinese web users would now be able to use the Chinese version of Google Search engine. The Chinese market is too lucrative to be ignored by the search engine giant as recent surveys have indicated that the country has as many as 111 million net users. This makes china the second largest online market after the United States.

Google’s Senior Policy Counsel Andrew McLaughlin said in a statement on this launch: “Google is mindful that governments around the world impose restrictions on access to information. In order to operate from China, we have removed some content from the search results available on Google.cn, in response to local law, regulation, or policy.”

The company faces serious competition from local internet giant Baidu.com. In addition, their domestic competitors Yahoo! and MSN both have a presence in the China and are working hard on improving their services targeting the Chinese web users. The company is however not offering services like e-mail, Blogging, video or message group services in China.