Google CEO Sundar Pichai Denied Any Plans To Launch A Censored Search App In China

Harin - Dec 12, 2018

On December 11, during his testimony in front of the US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, Sundar Pichai denied, Google CEO any plans to launch a censored search engine in China. He told chairman Bob Goodlatte along with the Congressional committee that currently, Google had no intentions for launching a searching app scheme in China.

It is worth pointing out that while Pichai denied any information on Google’s plans to launch a censored version of its own search engine in China, he did not exclude any future possibility of this project. When being asked by Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee about Google’s Dragonfly Project, Pichai replied: “"Our core process right now is to provide information in China, which is a basic human right. We have no plans to launch Search in China". He also mentioned that when his company releases such product in the future, they will offer the lawmakers full transparency about it.

When being asked if any project meetings about Google’s product in China were carried out and if the company has had meetings with the Chinese government to discuss this matter, Pichai answered that currently, the Dragonfly Project was only known as an internal project taken on by the Search team. He added:

Along with this information, his deny of launching a search app in China was repeated.

He acknowledged that a prototype for China’s search engine is currently under progress. According to Pichai, there are about 100 engineers taking part in this project.

Besides the Dragonfly Project, Pichai was also asked about Google’s discrimination against the conservative voices and that Google tried to control the 2016 US elections results. The Congressmen then raised questions on the company’s location data collecting and whether the company sells its users data to advertisers. In response to this inquiry, the Google CEO stated that it is essential for Google to protect location data and denied sending location information to advertisers.