Over the past few weeks, there have been many reports surfacing that Google is looking to get back into the Chinese market and has been building a censored search engine that could be used in the country. Now, according to The New York Times, many employees are pushing back against this censored search engine for the People’s Republic of China. There’s approximately around 1,400 employees that are protesting this search engine, according to the New York Times.
There’s currently a letter circulating internally at Google, which argues that employees need more transparency, and an ethics review. The letter states “we urgently need more transparency, a seat at the table and a commitment to clear and open processes: Google employees need to know what we’re building.” The letter continued to state that this willingness to work with China brings up many ethical issues. This is because Google is going to be working with China, and abiding by the censorship laws in the country. This all falls under Google’s motto which was and is “don’t be evil”, and its employees want more transparency on what exactly is going on here, so that they aren’t left in the dark.
Google left China in 2010, over the many censorship laws that the country has. The search giant has been looking to get back into the country, with many different products, including a Google Play Store that only housed approved apps and games. Though, Google quickly realized that there is way too much competition in China, for that to be a good idea. When Google left the country, hundreds of app stores popped up in the country to fill the gap. Google wants to get back into China and at least grab a portion of the market, since it is the largest country in the world right now, and it’s missing out on over a billion users.