Google is planning to launch a censored version of its search engine in China where it is currently banned, according to reports.
Google “will blacklist websites and search terms about human rights, democracy, religion, and peaceful protest” in a relaunch, according to a report based on internal documents seen by The Intercept.
The web giant’s services have been blocked in China since 2010, when it refused to agree to the government’s censorship terms after being hacked in attempts to unmask Chinese dissidents.
At the time the company criticised the censorship and surveillance activities of Beijing, and the company’s Soviet Union-born co-founder Sergey Brin decried the “forces of authoritarianism” in the country.
Although there is little sign of authoritarianism receding following President Xi Jinping consolidating power, the number of internet users in the country has risen sharply and China’s version of Google, Baidu, which has annual revenues of billions of pounds.
