Big tech companies have been in the news a lot in recent months and for none of the right reasons. Many of the social media companies have been facing backlash regarding their policies and some things that they would have preferred to keep secret. Now it seems to be Google’s turn to enter the spotlight.
Google and China, a match not made in heaven
Google, like many other tech companies, has wanted to tap into the Chinese market. With approximately 800 million internet users it is certainly a tantalizing market. They have already tried, rolling out a Chinese-based version of its site in 2000 and Google.cn in 2006 and at its peak in 2009 having over ⅓ of all Chinese Internet searches going through their platform.
But all was not well. Many critics of the Chinese government were already furious at Google. A human rights activist had threatened to sue accusing Google (and Yahoo) of being a “servile Pekinese dog wagging its tail at the heels of the Chinese Communists” and was thrown in jail for 10 years. Google, Yahoo and Microsoft had signed an agreement with each other to try to reduce the risk that their products would lead to human rights abuses by saying that they would comply with government censorship only when formally asked to do so.
In order to launch their platform they had to agree to certain conditions with the Communist Party of China (CCP). They agreed to block certain websites but users were allowed to be told when a search result or webpage were censored. They were also to not maintain any services that used confidential information like Gmail (which was eventually introduced).
Ancient Chinese saying Stare at the profit and step in the pitfall
In late 2008 Google was accused of running ads for non-licensed medical websites which the CCP claimed nearly threw the online ad market into chaos. A month later the CCP accused Google of allowing pornographic material in their search results. Within six months Google was blocked and the CCP pushed users toward another search engine called Baidu. Combine that with a copyright compensation lawsuit for Chinese authors who had their works scanned into Google their days in China appeared to be numbered.
Less than one year later following an apparent CCP hack Google was no longer willing to censor its site and removed its censorship features. Google.cn was directed to its Hong Kong service Google.com.hk, which was not censored owing to the one country two systems policy. A compromise was reached that allowed Google to stay using its Hong Kong service by not automatically redirecting Google.cn to that site. Market share dropped dramatically though leaving many to wonder why Google was even bothering to remain in China. Even most Chinese did not care if Google stayed or left.
Project Dragonfly
Google did not leave and was still trying to maintain and even increase its presence in China. It was a surprise to some when Project Dragonfly was brought to light. Google was planning to launch a strictly censored version of their website sometime in early 2019. CEO Sundar Pichai said it was just an idea being explored but it turned out it was more than that. Dragonfly was a reality and it was becoming closer and closer to being launched.
A former engineer that had allegedly been asked to work on the project detailed that Google was developing Dragonfly as secretly as it could with as few people as possible to prevent leaked information. It would be launched and then the world would be informed. Numerous company reviews would be bypassed to make it operational quicker. The service would be heavily censored and would allow the CCP to push whatever message it wanted to. Information would be reported to the CCP so they would always know who was searching for what.
Google’s employees not happy
Many of Google’s employees were upset. In August over 1,400 employees signed on to an open letter urging Dragonfly to be canceled since it would make the company complicit in the many human rights abuses the CCP commits. That letter was circulated internally but in November, when it became apparent that Pichai not only lied to employees but also ignored their concerns, another letter was released but this time publically and over 400 employees affixed their names.
Google’s role in Dragonfly had attracted human rights groups like Amnesty International to protest outside of the company’s headquarters. Add to that an unhappy group of employees stemming from other issues this year like the refusal to develop an AI system for the US military as well as the company’s handling of sexual misconduct allegations which prompted a walkout by employees.
Google employees prepare to strike?
The walkout over the handling of sexual misconduct allegations was very successful and many employees are considering taking that to the next level. At least one employee has vowed to quit if Dragonfly is launched without a review of its privacy implications. A fund was set up to help employees cover costs during a strike and raised over $100,000 in just a few hours. It seems that the workers are digging in their heels. Will the corporate bosses listen?
Some employees are not concerned about Dragonfly. They cite the company’s mission to organize the information of the world to make it useful. CEO Pichai is one of the leading proponents of the project and it was a topic of conversation when he testified before the House Judiciary Committee yesterday. Given Google’s noticeable absence in an earlier testimony many in Congress are in attack mode. When questioned about Dragonfly Pichai responded that he had no plans to launch anything like that in China. Most of his testimony revolved around perceived conservative censorship by Google, which he also denied.
A sign of the times
There is a great deal of tension between the US and China. Even with a tenuous truce declared in the trade war the threat of this heating up again is on everyone’s minds. Combine that with China’s many human rights violations as well as its increasingly more potent surveillance state one would wonder why a company whose motto at one time was “Do No Evil” would want to become involved in such a project?
Corporate greed seems to be the only answer with the potential to access the hundreds of millions of users in China. Has something changed since Google’s last foray into China regarding the CCP? Has Google pledged to be a good Communist propaganda tool? It turned out that last time it was very easy for the CCP to get rid of Google and it can be just as easy this time around. It seems like the old saying “Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me” could be applicable here.
There is a massive rift at Google and it could shake the company to its core. It could also erode the trust of millions of Americans and billions of people around the globe. If Google is willing to do this for China, would they be willing to do this for another repressive regime? Given their acknowledged political biased would they be willing to do this American politicians as well adding their name to conservative charges regarding censorship? Project Dragonfly has far more implications than just China and one does have to wonder if public pressure will be enough to stop this. Today information is king and by controlling the ability to access that information any one or any company can wield a tremendous amount of power.