“Don’t be evil” has transformed from a mantra into a plea.
A group of Google employees published an open letter to their employer on Tuesday, calling for an end to Google’s planned censored Chinese search engine. The 11 co-signees are mostly engineer…
Category: Censorship China
Facebook chooses values over profits in staying out of China
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That’s a thumbs down on China.
In a letter to Congress, Facebook said that it would only provide service in China if it was free from government censorship. In other words, as Xi Jinping’s power over the country intensifies, that’s not likely.
Specifically, Facebook would need to ensure that providing its service would enable “free expression,” and not have undue “privacy implications” — that is, government surveillance and censorship.
“Rigorous human rights due diligence and careful consideration of free expression and privacy implications would constitute important components of any decision on entering China,” the letter reads. “Facebook has been blocked in China since 2009, and no decisions have been made around the conditions under which any possible future service might be offered in China.” Read more…
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‘Christopher Robin’ release denied in China, possibly because Pooh looks like Xi Jinping
Winnie the Pooh may be a lovable star of the big screen, but that’s not stopping China from being petty as hell.
China’s film authorities have denied a release to the new live action Winnie the Pooh movie, Christopher Robin, according to The Hollywoo…
Google is developing a censored news app for China
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Google’s recently leaked plans to re-enter the Chinese market doesn’t end with a mobile search engine app. The company is also getting into the (censored) news business.
The Information reports that a news-aggregation app for China, which would be government censor-friendly, is under development at Google. Three sources told The Information that development of this news app began late last year and meetings with Chinese regulators to discuss the app have already been underway.
The Google news app for China would be powered by artificial intelligence, not human editors, and would provide content customized to each user. The Google app is said to closely resemble popular Chinese news reader app Toutiao, which currently has 120 million daily users. There are over 700 million mobile internet users in China. Read more…
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View More Google is developing a censored news app for ChinaLeaked document shows Google’s plans for its censored search engine in China
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Recently, Google removed its long-time unofficial motto, “don’t be evil,” from its corporate code of conduct. If you need an understanding as to why they’d make such an update, here’s the perfect example.
The Intercept is reporting that the company is readying a censored version of its search engine in a custom Android app to launch in China.
To comply with the Chinese government’s strict internet censorship laws, Google’s China-only search engine app would block websites and search terms about human rights, peaceful protests, political dissidents, democracy, police brutality, religion, and more. Read more…
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View More Leaked document shows Google’s plans for its censored search engine in ChinaChinese reporter’s viral eye roll gets censored on social media
China’s annual “two sessions” meetings are as serious as they come when it comes to political affairs.
Taking place in Beijing, the event predictably gets extensive coverage in China. Yet a viral eye roll by reporter Liang Xiangyi has upstaged the st…
China is deleting posts about a kindergarten allegedly abusing its toddlers
As anger swells around a Chinese kindergarten accused of abusing its toddlers, online discussion about the topic has been systematically deleted.
Earlier this week, the RYB Education New World kindergarten in Beijing was accused of feeding drugs to t…