Back in 2010, Google was banned by the government of China and was replaced with China’s own Baidu platform which did the same conveniences that Google provided. After 10 long years, it would seem that Google might be trying to get back into China with a new censored search engine.
Codename, Project Dragonfly, this search engine will blacklist websites and terms about human rights, democracy religion and protests, topics that are sensitive in China. The project started back in 2017 and has been demonstrated to Chinese officials at CES 2018. The final version could launch in the next six to nine months based on approval from the Chinese Government and it will start as a mobile app before the desktop app arrives. Based on a report that was acquired by The Intercept, the search engine will not only filter and block certain websites, like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and adult websites.
The source also said that a handful of Google employees know about this project and were not allowed to share this information which has sparked concern on censorship which might be skewed morally and ethically. However, Google has to respect the wishes of the Chinese government and it would be a beneficial improvement to tourists that would still like to use Google products without using a VPN in China.
