Google found itself probed by members of the House Judiciary committee yesterday, as the US governme<\/b>
\nGoogle found itself probed by members of the House Judiciary committee yesterday, as the US government attempted to understand reported efforts to re-enter the Chinese market. CEO Sundar Pichai told the panel that the company had \u201cno plans\u201d at this time to relaunch its search engine after its removal in 2010, yet continuously tiptoed around dismissing the idea entirely.
Aside from cyber-attacks originating from China, the primary reason Google pulled out of the Chinese market was due to mounting pressure from the country\u2019s government to censor its search results. Reports of Project Dragonfly emerged earlier this year, doubling back on this stance with a catered search engine being developed specifically for China.
\u201cRight now there are no plans for us to launch a search product in China,\u201d Pichai told Congress, who questioned how this wouldn\u2019t contradict Google\u2019s core values. \u201cWe are, in general, always looking to see how best \u2014 it\u2019s part of our core mission and our principles \u2014 to try hard to provide users with information.
\u201cWe always have evidence, based on every country we\u2019ve operated in, us reaching out and giving users more information has a very positive impact. And we feel that calling but right now there are no plans to launch in China. To the extent that we ever approach a position like that I will be fully transparent, including with policymakers here. And engage and consult widely,\u201d continued Pichai.
Regardless, effort is still under way on Project Dragonfly and Pichai is reluctant to shut the door on development. When asked whether he would use his leadership to \u201cavoid launching a tool of censorship and surveillance in China,\u201d Pichai simply responded that he \u201ccommits to engaging.\u201d
\u201cOne of the things which is important to us as a company, we have a stated mission of providing users with information, and so we always \u2014 we think it\u2019s in our duty to explore possibilities. To give users access to information\u2026 I have that commitment but as I said earlier on this we\u2019ll be very thoughtful and we will engage widely as we make progress,\u201d explains the CEO.
Fortunately, Pichai assured the panel that it was not actively cooperating with the Chinese government on the project, as work is \u201ccurrently an internal effort\u201d conducted by Google\u2019s \u201csearch teams,\u201d which had at one point consisted of over 100 employees. The use of the word \u201ccurrently\u201d is reiterated, still leaving things open for collaboration in the future.
Congressman David Cicilline stated that US-based companies must \u201creassert American moral leadership\u201d among the \u201crising authoritarianism around the world when more leaders are using surveillance, censorship and repression against their own people.\u201d That being said, Google\u2019s Project Dragonfly has been \u201cunderway for a while\u201d and would add revenue from a market of a seemingly unmentioned 1.4 billion people.
KitGuru Says: Given that Google\u2019s latest AI principles involve avoiding the creation and reinforcement of unfair bias, among others, it remains to be seen how Google can uphold its morals while still accessing the sizeable market. How do you feel about Google China\u2019s catered search engine?<\/p>\n