Google shuts down data analysis system for censored Chinese search engine Dragonfly, report says

Engineers working on the project are no longer allowed to use an internal system to learn about what Chinese people are searching for, after complaints from staff

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In this photo taken on December 11, 2018 Google CEO Sundar Pichai testifies during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. - Google chief Sundar Pichai said fears about artificial intelligence are valid but that the tech industry is up to the challenge of regulating itself. Photo: AFP

Published: 1:58pm, 18 Dec 2018Updated: 10:53pm, 18 Dec 2018

Google has effectively suspended plans to develop a censored search engine for China following internal rifts over the controversial project, according to a report from investigative news site The Intercept.

Google was forced to shut down a data analysis system crucial for the development of the censored Chinese search engine, known as Dragonfly, after receiving complaints from the company’s privacy team, The Intercept reported on Tuesday, citing two sources.

Dragonfly was first revealed by The Intercept in August to be the code name for Google’s secret mission to build a censored search engine specifically for China, which would blacklist websites on any issues deemed sensitive by Beijing, from human rights to democracy to religion.

Google’s search engine has been blocked in mainland China since early 2010, after the Silicon Valley giant decided to stop censoring searches as required by the Chinese government. That left the country’s more than 750 million internet users dependent on a near monopoly search service from domestic rival Baidu, which in recent years has suffered a backlash from cases of deceptive advertising.

In October Google CEO Sundar Pichai publicly acknowledged Dragonfly’s existence for the first time, and told a US congressional panel last week that the company had 100 engineers working on the project.