Despite optimism surrounding negotiations on Google’s search engine in China, the American Internet goliath appears more than likely to close the doors to its Chinese site. The decision from Google follows a series January hackings into the gmail accounts of a number of Chinese human rights activists. Google suspected government involvement and began questioning the ethics of continuing to heavily censor search results.
Google has always held a policy where they put moral principles above profit, but it will be put to the test in the coming weeks as they prepare to pull out of the billion-plus person market.
Whatever decision is made, Google will begin acting on it within weeks according to individuals close to the matter. On Friday, Chinese authorities spoke to local publications regarding the situation saying that Google would more than likely withdraw their search engine service. Should that happen the newsites will only have clearance to release official accounts of the situation rather than stories from elsewhere.
Google and Chinese authorities have been in discussions for several months with neither party relenting on the major issue of censorship. Despite discussions of continuing Google’s other operations in China outside it’s search engine, the company may not be able to continue in the nation at all. China’s Minister of Industry and Information Technology Li Yizhong cautioned that Google would, "have to bear the consequences" should it violate the rules.
Google holds roughly 36 percent of China's search revenue.
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