A majority of Google shareholders have voted against an anti-censorship proposal that took aim at the way Google conducts its business in China and other countries that engage in active censorship. The company received a large amount of criticism last year on news that its Chinese search engine, Google.cn, engages in self-censorship. The proposal would have required that the search giant not engage in self-censorship of its products and that the company clearly disclose when any censorship had occurred.
In response, David Drummond, senior vice president for corporate development, retorted that "this proposal would prevent us from operating Google.cn. Pulling out of China, shutting down Google.cn, is just not the right thing to do at this point. But that"s exactly what this proposal would do." The company"s board of directors had recommended that shareholders vote against the proposal - and they agreed. Simply put, the proposal failed spectacularly.