Google is stirring up trouble in China, again. After Beijing voiced its objection to the way Google was diverting mainland internet users to a Hong Kong site, the company has now stopped the automatic redirect function and is asking China to renew its business licence in the country.
At present, users of Google in China are directed to Google.com.hk. This was the result of a lengthy battle between Google and China in January this year, a security scare being the catalyst for what turned out to be a debate over censorship.
But now Google is hoping China will agree to renew its licence as an Internet Content Provider – a precondition of keeping the China site open.
On its official blog, Google said that it has done its best to increase access to information while abiding by Chinese law.
Admitting that the task has “not been easy”, Google has now had several conversations with the Chinese government and says it maintains that it will not back down over censorship.
The Chinese government however, can now exercise the right not to renew the internet giant’s Internet Content Provider license (up for renewal on June 30), which could mean Google exiting China altogether.
And such threats should be taken seriously by Google. China is the most populous internet market in the world, which means advertising dollars times about 1.3 billion. Moreover, any other business that sets up in China has to abide by Chinese law so why not King Google?
Its decision to take on the government hasn’t exactly been looked on favourable either. In the first quarter of 2010, the company’s share of Chinese online search revenues slid from 35 to 30%, according to Analysys. People, especially the hardworking Chinese, don’t take too fondly to big greedy companies.
Google says that the prospect of leaving China is “dreaded by many of our Chinese users,” but adds that it has been looking at possible alternatives.
One such alternative could be that instead of automatically redirecting Google users, the site has started taking a small percentage of them to a landing page on Google.cn that links to Google.com.hk—where users can conduct web search or continue to use Google.cn services like music and text translate, which we can provide locally without filtering.
This approach ensures Google stays true to its commitment not to censor its results on Google.cn and gives users access to all of its services from one page.
Over the next few days Google will end the redirect entirely. The company has also re-submitted its ICP license renewal application based on the new approach.
The easiest thing for Google to do, and in order to remain in the lucrative Chinese market, would be for them to simply abide by Chinese law…unless that is, they have something to hide.