Latest Google China Stories

Rebecca Darrah for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online Google’s services are currently blocked in China, according to web-monitoring group GreatFire.org. "It's the first time since we started tracking online censorship in China in February last year that this has happened," GreatFire wrote in a blog post on Friday. "The subdomains www.google.com, mail.google.com, google-analytics.com, docs.google.com, drive.google.com, maps.google.com, play.google.com and perhaps many more are...

According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Google is trying to smooth over its relationship with China after having a rough couple of years. Google's top executive in China told the Journal that the company is looking to make a range of moves to expand its presence in China, including hiring more engineers and product managers. Daniel Alegre, the executive interviewed by the Journal, said Google wants to focus on services that do not require government-imposed censorship. He...

A question-and-answer page for Google's Chinese users was inaccessible from China on Tuesday less than a month after the company's Internet license was renewed. A Google Inc. spokeswoman, Courtney Hohne, said in an e-mail to The Associated Press that the company found no technical problems with the Hong Kong-based service.  Beijing encourages Web use for education and business, but tries to block material that is said to be subversive and closely watches sites where China's public is able...

Google's search engine and other Internet services were back up and running in mainland China on Friday morning after what the company believed was online censorship turned out to be nothing more than a technical hiccup.On Thursday, the company relayed information that the Google.com search engine, Google Ads, and Google Mobile offerings were being "fully blocked" by the Chinese government, and that the Mountain View, California company's news and image services were being...

A company spokeswoman and government official said Wednesday that Google's application for renewal of its license to operate in China is still under review. Google is awaiting word that its Internet Content Provider (ICP) license is still valid. Google China spokeswoman Marsha Wang said that its ICP license remains valid as long as the government has not expressly rejected it. "The license runs till 2012. The license needs to be checked every year," Wang told AFP."Everything...

China's state news agency accused Google Inc of forcing a political agenda by falsely claiming the Chinese government supported hacker attacks and by pushing its culture, ideas, and values on the country. The Chinese government's Internet censorship, which Google has said is one of the main reasons the company may quit China, has been defended by China's state media. The news agency says "it is unfair for Google to impose its own value and yardsticks on Internet regulation to China, which has...

The Financial Times said on Saturday that Google's talks with China over censorship have reached an apparent impasse, and the Internet company is now "99.9 percent" certain it will shut down its Chinese search engine. Google said that it had drawn up detailed plans for closing its Chinese search engine. According to the paper's source, Google was likely to take some time to follow through with its plans. The newspaper reported that it would be to help bring about an orderly closure...

Google services in some parts of China have been interrupted as the search engine giant is accused of proliferating vulgar content in its Web searches by China's Foreign Ministry. This is raising the controversial issue of censorship among Chinese citizens.In a statement to AFP Google China said, "We understand that many users could not access Google.com in mainland China, along with linked services, such as Google Docs and Gmail, during the last 24 hours."Chinese Foreign Ministry...

State media in China reported that authorities had shut down some of Google's search services because of indecent material, leading the Internet giant to announce on Friday it would work harder to eliminate pornography from its Chinese Web pages, AFP reported.Google said in a statement it has continually taken measures against vulgar content on the Internet in China, especially against material that is harmful to children."Google is currently stepping up its efforts in this regard,"...

A Chinese government-backed Internet watchdog has sharply criticized Google Inc. for allowing access to pornography through its Web site. Some of Google China's online search business was suspended and the U.S. company was told to clear up what the government considered to be lewd information promptly. The China Internet Illegal Information Reporting Center accused Google's Chinese site of disseminating large amounts of pornographic and vulgar information but gave no examples. It recommended...