We launched Google.cn in January 2006 in the belief that the benefits of increased access to information for people in China and a more open Internet outweighed our discomfort in agreeing to censor some results. At the time we made clear that “we will carefully monitor conditions in China, including new laws and other restrictions on our services. If we determine that we are unable to achieve the objectives outlined we will not hesitate to reconsider our approach to China.”
These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered–combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web–have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China. We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China.
The decision to review our business operations in China has been incredibly hard, and we know that it will have potentially far-reaching consequences. We want to make clear that this move was driven by our executives in the United States, without the knowledge or involvement of our employees in China who have worked incredibly hard to make Google.cn the success it is today. We are committed to working responsibly to resolve the very difficult issues raised.
Update: Media watcher Jeff Jarvis has a blog post on this that’s well worth a read.
Update II: Rebecca MacKinnon gives us additional perspective with views from China.
Update III: This from William Moss, a public relations professional and writer working in China.
In this situation Google has undertaken a bet-the-farm confrontational communications approach in China. They will not have made this decision lightly. Dressed up in the polite language above is what is essentially an ultimatum: Allow us to present uncensored search results to our Chinese users or we’ll walk. The Chinese government is not likely to cave to an ultimatum from a foreign company, no matter how decorously delivered. As Richard Waters of the FT has pointed out, the language does leave some wiggle room for further negotiation. However, Imagethief cannot imagine a circumstance in which the Chinese government will give Google free reign, especially in the current, highly restrictive climate for Internet services. Barring some surprising developments, the clock would therefore appear to be ticking for Google.cn, if not Google’s overall operations in China. It will be very interesting to see how this plays out.
Update IV: In advance of new information, James Fallows in the Atlantic sees it this way.
In a strange and striking way there is an inversion of recent Chinese and U.S. roles. In the switch from George W. Bush to Barack Obama, the U.S. went from a president much of the world saw as deliberately antagonizing them to a president whose Nobel Prize reflected (perhaps desperate) gratitude at his efforts at conciliation. China, by contrast, seems to be entering its Bush-Cheney era. For Chinese readers, let me emphasize again my argument that China is not a “threat” and that its development is good news for mankind. But its government is on a path at the moment that courts resistance around the world. To me, that is what Google’s decision signifies.
Update V: [dk.au] Jason Wilson at New Matilda : Google No Champion Of Human Rights
Not really. Maybe just cutting loose from an unprofitable sector of their business: http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jun2009/gb2009068_694655.htm
More stuff about the Chinese search market: http://www.digitaleastasia.com/2010/01/05/baidu-google-yahoo-and-bing-2009-was-a-battleground-in-chinese-search/
Basically it seems to me that Google has decided the Chinese search market ain’t worth a hill of beans. And why run a ‘special’ version of your software (i.e. at additional expense) if it’s actually not as lucrative as other markets? Despite being second in the Chinese market, in “Asia-Pacific” overall they are number one. Which says to me the rest of the region is more lucrative than just China alone.
Maybe this is more a poke in the eye for the whole “Chinese economic behemoth” meme rather than a feather in the cap of the “don’t be evil” Google meme.
A. Principles go in the bottom drawer if you are making increasing profits.
Just check our coal mining companies, and the Rudd government’s posturing on climate change.
B. Principles get fetched back out of the bottom drawer and dusted off, when you want cover for a politically sensitive action related to profits.
Just ask Dubya Bush, Blair or Howard about the Iraq war and WMD, versus control of diminishing oil supplies.
A multinational corporation with a conscience? pfft. Neat search engine though.
I don’t doubt that this may be partly motivated by a lack of profitability in China, but most of what Google does runs at a loss for a long time before they manage to successfully monetize it (including their core search engine, which ran ad-free for ages).
There could have been a multitude of factors contributing to this decision, not least of which I would think is the continued bad press they have gotten from their arrangements with the Chinese government, which is more pronounced in the USA than it is here. There is also probably an internal political push from employees to get out, which really shouldn’t be underestimated as a factor.
Hopefully this is the start of the end of the “corporate-subversive” model of cultural change that is so often proffered as an excuse to get into China despite the regime. Y’know, “give them iPods and soon they’ll want democracy”.
Did anyone actually read the statement? Google has been under systematic attack by the Chinese state in pursuit of dissidents. In the process, Google’s entire global corporate premise of securely regulating and managing the information in its customers’ lives has been undermined. And it hasn’t announced a withdrawal from China, but that it will no longer censor its searches. It is direct challenge to the authority of the Chinese state by a corporation.
@MH – the point being that if China says (as Google acknowledged might happen in its press release), “well piss off then” and blocks all Google full-stop at the great firewall, Google is not actually risking a massive investment.
Tyro Rex @ 7 – I think Google needs China more than China needs Google so it does come at some cost. China could certainly kick them out of the country in addition to blocking their search engine as well.
Chris @8: “I think Google needs China…”
Perhaps “needs” is a bit too strong a word?
Perhaps it is a “want” rather than a “need”?
I wonder if the Chinese heirachy actually believes that they either want or need Google? It might look like an uncontrollable fifth column for dissidents and dissemination of unmanageable expectations to them?
Chris, the point being in the two links I posted at the top the comments. China’s search market for Google fairly minor, actually.
Will this mean my Android phone won’t work in China?
So it’s “champagne and caviar at” Redmond. tonight!
Cynicism blooms here!
It is great news and I might just google myself a small beer to celebrate.
Well, I can’t exactly blame Google for wanting out, China doesn’t win a thing from having them in the country so they are an easy target for regulation and blame shifting.
The story here is and continues to be that China’s Government will step on everyone to ensure it’s continued rule…
Ok, It’s a bit inflammatory and simplistic. But if they thought I was a big enough problem, that statement may well be my undoing. How hard exactly would it be for what seems to be a well organised, informal state sponsored network of hackers to find the email address that is mandatory to post here and start building a profile about my actions on the web ans start building a ‘mitigation strategy’ against me? Remembering that this is a nation that may well be the dominant force in the world within my lifespan. And exactly what stops any organised group, including Google, from doing the same thing for different ends? What if it were another state, another company a criminal organisation or what if it was all of the above?
I don’t know what to do about that problem, It’s too large for me to handle. But it’s just too simplistic to say this is about money when what’s truly at stake here is power, and as individuals, we are loosing.
PinkyOz
I think the real story is that China is not the consumer goldmine paradise that companies think, so maybe western companies looking to invest ought not to let themselves be pushed around by the regime quite so much when they first go in.
Tyro Rex @ 10 – China may be a small market for Google now relative to the rest of their business, but do they really want to exit a market that is growing 40% a year? It’ll be a lot harder to get in later.
Elise @ 9 – yes, its not really a need but potentially a huge market for them.
Think of it this way: if this statement didn’t come out today, in a couple of days the headlines would have read, ‘Chinese Government Uses Google to Hunt Dissidents.’
It’s reasonable to assume that doing business in China was worth less to Google than the company’s ‘do no evil’ brand image. Fortunately, in this case, corporate anxiety over appearances has brought freedom of information issues to the fore.
I can only wonder at what Mr. Conroy thinks of all this…
Well said MM*, that’s about the size of it I reckon.
*Except the bit about Our Stevo. Trying to imagine what he thinks hertz mai brane.
Margaret Simons @ Crikey Today
Look, I know everyone here wants to focus on the commercial implication (In an almost ironic turn for a leftist blog) but the privacy/information arguments are important here.
Yes we do have to accept that China is part of the landscape, and so should it be. But we would not accept this level of provocativeness from any government or orgaisation in this world, so why accept that China’s Government does them? Yes, China is rising, but why at the cost of everyone else in the world?
PinkyOz
Also worth reading – Jason Wilson at New Matilda : Google No Champion Of Human Rights
PinkyOz @14 and @19, I think you are totally right. Especially pertinent comment about introducing a system whereby a hostile party can to chase individuals down, all over the world.
We tend to take our freedom of expression for granted in Western democracies, because we have grown up with it. Most of us haven’t lived in fear of being persecuted for contrary opinions, unless they are truely inflammatory.
Of course, it isn’t only Google that has to worry about sabotage from China. Remember the Melbourne film festival site being hacked from China? Remember Rudd’s laptop being hacked into? Large companies that work in China already have to be extra careful these days, due to fear of hacking and sabotage. Some have already been hacked significantly.
The rising power of China could change quite a few norms for business practice, especially if Chinese SOE’s become our defacto head office.
An interesting development reported by the ABC: Google defies Chinese censors
Why would Google be bothered to escalate if, according to Tyro @10, “China’s search market for Google fairly minor, actually.”?
Maybe Chris @ 16 is onto something. BTW where did you get the 40% a year market growth from?
At the same time Google is happy to be a gate keeper in the local Australian context of Cyber Racism.