The world"s largest search engine is reluctant to pull out of China altogether, instead the company will re-launch under Google.cn, and filter content the Chinese government finds objectionable.
Google already have a Chinese language version of their search engine, though the government have placed blocks on the site. With this new development Google will be accessible in China, albeit with restrictions.
In a statement Google said
:
"While removing search results is inconsistent with
Google"s mission, providing no information (or a heavily degraded user
experience that amounts to no information) is more inconsistent with
our mission."
China"s estimated 100 million internet users are expected to swell to 187 million in two years time. Google is currently losing out to Baidu.com, a Beijing based portal of which Google owns 2.6 percent.
Google are not the only ones exposed to the Chinese government"s restrictions. Both Microsoft and Yahoo have had to restrict content in recent years, and it seems the government are showing no signs of giving up.