Internet in China

Background

Google is a company that focuses on providing information for Internet users. Their searching services are is used all around the world. While Google has been criticized for using others information, intellectual property, censorship, and search manipulation, it is still one of the most widely used search engines today, with no other close contenders. Users are often able to search any number of topics with thousands of instant results.

Google in China

Up until 2010, Google was in strict relations with China and its “firewall.” Chinese users were censored from many searches and only those allowed by the government were posed as results. Some popular Google searches that were blocked by the government included anything having to do with Tiananmen Square protests, independence of Taiwan and Tibet, and the Falun Gong movement. Google adhered to these requests instead of not posing a presence at all in China. Google notified users that information was blocked, but claimed not give the information about the users to the government. This however was under protest when it was exposed Google did give information to the Chinese government, helping to repress citizens human rights. The Free Media Movement denounced Google from its program after the issue was exposed. Google has also been denounced from other major media organizations in the United States.

End to Censorship

In 2010, Google declared they would no longer be censoring the results of Google.cn for its users. This of course brought forth issues with the Chinese government. Talks with the government were set forth in order to see if Google China would even exist anymore due to its lack of information restraint. After talks with the Chinese failed to reach any sort of agreement, Google paired with Google Hong-Kong, which existed outside the censorship laws.

YouTube

YouTube is a subsidiary of Google. It is the third most visited website in the world. On October of 2007, YouTube was officially added to the Chinese “firewall.” The blocking was suggested to be similar act to those of preventing Google searches. Citizens of China were being exposed to video of military presence and beatings of Tibetan men in Buddhist monasteries. China has been criticized from keeping these actions from its citizens. Currently, YouTube is not only blocked in China, but 7 other countries around the world.