Google makes a pact with Chinese censors

Shanghai, China. © iStock/Getty.

Last May, Google removed its long-time unofficial motto, “Don’t be evil”, from the company’s corporate code of conduct. Just wait until you know why. To satisfy the Chinese government’s strict Internet censorship rules, Google has developed a custom, China-only Android search application that blocks any Web content related to human rights, peaceful protests, political dissidents, democracy, police brutality, religion and many other topics. A custom mobile application is also being readied to aggregate just the news that is compatible with the official Party line. The Google News application will be fed content selected by artificial intelligence rather than human editors, providing personalized content to users. It looks like greed trumps ethics once again.

⇨ Mashable, “Leaked document shows Google’s plans for its censored search engine in China.”

⇨ Mashable, “Google is developing a censored news app for China.”