Google not close to launching search engine in China, says CEO Sundar Pichai

Putting to rest the rumours of Google rolling out a customised version of its popular search engine service in China, CEO Sundar Pichai clarified that the company is not close to launching a search product.
However, Pichai did hint at doing more in the country which is infamous for its restrictive internet policies.

Pichai's comments follow reports about Google building a custom-version of its search engine to abide by the Chinese rules and deliver censored search results, Cnet reported. According to the report, the secretive project, codenamed Dragonfly, led to a protest by 1,000 Google employees who objected to the company's efforts at supporting the restrictive, state-sponsored censorship.

Although Pichai has dismissed reports about not being 'close to' launching the search engine, there have been confirmed reports about Google actually working on a censored version. 

According to reports, Google's plan to launch a censored search engine in China requires more "transparency, oversight and accountability," hundreds of employees at the Alphabet unit said in an internal petition seen by Reuters. Disclosure of the secretive effort has disturbed some Google employees and human rights advocacy organizations. They are concerned that by agreeing to censorship demands.

Google would validate China's prohibitions on free expression and violate the "don't be evil" clause in the company's code of conduct. After employees petitioned this year, Google announced it would not renew a project to help the U.S. military develop artificial intelligence technology for drones.

With inputs from ANI