January 25, 2006 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- Google (google.com) said this week it would censor search results in China in order to gain access to one of the world's fastest growing markets.
The Chinese government exercises a heavy hand over the Internet, censoring content it considers offensive or political insensitive. Web sites that contain content on topics such as Taiwan independence, Tibet and the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, are regularly taken down.
"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 said in a statement.
Google has to this point resisted putting constraints on its search services. But the company is in danger of losing market share to rivals such as Yahoo!, which has been censoring its searches in China for three years now.
"While removing search results is inconsistent with Google's mission, providing no information (or a heavily degraded user experience that amounts to no information) is more inconsistent with our mission," Google said in a statement.
Critics such as France's Reporters Without Borders have expressed their disappointment with the decision. However, Internet users in China have been able to circumvent the Chinese government's controls, using proxy servers outside the country and changing the spelling of banned words.
