Breaking up is hard to do, sing some, but not “Thou-shalt-not-do- any-evil-Google!”
The internet giant strutted into China four years ago, lured by the huge growth potential in the white-hot market.
Google succeeded for a while, till China’s press censorship and internet hackers wore the giant down. Now, it is bailing out.
But is press censorship the only reason why Google is bailing?
Not quite, says The Economist. It points out that while Google could never break the stranglehold of the Chinese search giant Baidu, it also suffered losses when Google’s other non-censored enterprises like YouTube, Picasa and Blogger came under the authoritarian regime’s scanner.
As The Economist adds:
Google’s frustrations are widely shared. Before the Olympic games in Beijing in August 2008, China lifted longstanding blocks on several websites in an effort to present a more open image to visitors. Since then, controls have been stepped up to unprecedented levels. Internet access throughout the western region of Xinjiang has been all but cut off since the eruption of ethnic riots there in July. The unrest also prompted a nationwide closure of foreign social-networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook.
The role of such sites in Iran’s upheaval in June had already alarmed the government. Its fear of dissent erupting around the 60th anniversary in October of the founding of communist China prompted even greater vigilance against sensitive debate online. Since then there has been no sign of relaxation. In recent weeks, officials have tightened restrictions on the registration of websites under the .cn domain name (businesses only may apply). A crackdown on internet pornography has led to closer scrutiny by internet-service providers of non-porn websites.
So not just access to news but also PORN! The last straw, I am sure for Chinese internet surfers!
But Google getting out of China is a stark reminder, that in China, what you see is not what you get.
Read more about the Chinese governament’s extreme secrecy, paranoia and media manipulation in my in-depth piece here.
