Wed 13th of January, filed under SEO
Google considering Chinese operations
Google may withdraw from the China after a series of attacks on its services in the country. In a post on its official blog, David Drummond, senior vice president of the company, said the search engine was considering its options after attempts were made to hack into the Google Mail accounts of several Chinese human rights activists.
The blog revealed Google had been the victim of a 'highly sophisticated and targeted' attack in December and, as a result, the company would begin to review its operations in the country.
Google.cn has been operating in China since 2006, albeit under strict guidelines from the government regarding censorship of sensitive material, such as details for human rights organisations.
Following on from the announcement, the company has said it may no longer censor search results in its Chinese service. Drummond commented:
"Over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China."
Social networks respond positively
Reaction to the news was mainly positive on social media channels. A number of Twitter users voiced their approval of Google's statement, with local digital commentators @JezD calling the news "huge" and @Oceanician commenting that he was "quite optimistic" about the move.
Ben Parr, co-editor of social media site Mashable, said that the announcement could have "major political implications."
Posted by Tom Mason
