The U.S. search engine juggernaut took the world by storm after publishing a statement on its official blog that it will not censor its search results to suit the government’s preferences and threaten to cease its operations in mainland China. This decision was made after Google’s investigations reveal hacking attempts into email accounts of Chinese human rights activists.
For the past three years, Google has been spending a dime in the potentially lucrative Chinese search engine market. For example, Google China purchased the g.cn domain for a massive 50 million yuan (US$7.3 million). However, Google efforts don’t seem to have paid off due to fierce competition with local rival Baidu (market share in China currently stands at 77%) and China’s strict censorship law.
After this shocking news have spread to the other end of the world, some criticize the Chinese authorities for being biased whereas some badly wanted Google China to stay put. No final word has been made yet from the Google executives and it’s likely that Google will leave the country because the Chinese government doesn’t want the Chinese to be influence by the Western culture.
