Google on Monday put its China showdown to an abrupt end. Refusing to censor results on Google.cn, the Internet giant has started directing search traffic to Google.com.hk. Google is offering uncensored search in simplified Chinese via its Hong Kong servers.
The decision is driving speculation on many fronts even as human-rights groups applaud the move and the Chinese government has warned America not to make it a political issue.
“Some observers, competitors and shareholders think that Google is not being entirely rational by following through on its decision to pull out — or partly pull out — of the world’s largest Internet and mobile markets,” said Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence. “But once Google made the public statement that it would potentially withdraw if it couldn’t operate uncensored in China and the Chinese gave no indication of backing down or accommodating Google’s demands, it had to do something like this or leave entirely.”
Google’s Difficult Decision
Google warned users that the increased load on its Hong Kong servers and the complicated nature of these changes could lead to some slowdown in service. Some products might be inaccessible while Google continues to transition everything to the new domain.
David Drummond, Google’s chief legal officer, admitted that figuring out how to make good on Google’s promise to stop censoring search on Google.cn has been hard. On one hand, he said, Google wants as many people in the world as possible to have access to Google services, including users in mainland China. On the other hand, he added, the Chinese government has been clear that self-censorship is a non-negotiable legal requirement.
“We believe this new approach of providing uncensored search in simplified Chinese from Google.com.hk is a sensible solution to the challenges we’ve faced — it’s entirely legal and will meaningfully increase access…