Google in China

China - with its population of 1.3bn - is an incredibly attractive marketplace for both off and online businesses but its strict rules about what information citizens can access, present companies setting up shop there with a moral dilemma. In order to run a locally-based internet business, companies must sign an agreement to censor themselves - something which Google has resisted doing until recently. This has put it at a disadvantage compared to rivals such as Yahoo - which has been complying with the Chinese censors for the past three years. Agreeing to block access to websites making reference to material which the Chinese government regards as sensitive - such as democratic reform and Taiwanese independence - will speed up the site - currently slowed down by Chinese-imposed filters - and offer Google a greater foothold in the burgeoning Chinese market.

Google has acknowledged that its decision to launch in China will be seen as inconsistent with its mission to make information universally accessible but believes it has little choice. "We don't want to risk becoming irrelevant or useless due to the way that our content is blocked or filtered currently," Google's senior policy adviser Andrew McLaughlin told the BBC Radio Four's Today programme. "We feel it is a step forward. Not a big step forward but a step forward. We understand that many people will find the decision either puzzling or objectionable," he said.

Google is hoping to avoid some of the criticism Yahoo has attracted, particularly for the part it played in passing on e-mail data to the authorities which resulted in a Chinese journalist being jailed for ten years. Google has said that it will not introduce e-mail or blogging services in China until it can strike a balance between user safety and local laws. It also claims that it will inform users if the content they access via its search engine has been censored, something that other search firms based in China do not do.

Critics believe gaining market share in China has been Google's primary motivation for its change of heart and it is true that the firm has been losing ground to a Beijing-based web search firm, Baidu.com, in which Google owns a 3% share. Internet search users in China are predicted to increase from about 100 million currently to 187 million by 2008, and Google is determined to gain a strong foothold in the market.

Adapted from BBC news, January 2006

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