Google's CEO Sundar Pichai had put employee and investor confidence back up, saying that Google in China won't happen anytime soon; as such, the company wouldn't lower itself and its standards just to fit in with China's alleged Internet censorship rules.
Pichai cleared up these things during a Google Town Hall meeting on Thursday. This is to clarify reports that CNN Money says could happen should Google successfully penetrate the Great Chinese Firewall. There had been reports from multiple sources that Google was in talks to design a search engine for China. This Chinese Google search engine would have the power to censor websites deemed sensitive by the government, as well as complying with censorship rules the government has in place.
Google's plan in China has been designated 'Dragonfly;' it's purpose? It has been designed to create a test version of sorts as a search engine and mobile news provider in China. While Pichai had said before that plans for launching Google in China are still far from happening, this search engine is as close as Google will ever be to break into China and moving past the Great Firewall.
There's no mystery why Google wants to get into China. The population currently stands at 1.3 billion. With that kind of market, Google may be looking at an untapped market or something that tech giants in Silicon Valley could only dream of.
However, China has a way of doing things; either company needs to shape up or stay out. That's the purpose that Google had with Dragonfly. It's an incubator, quite like Facebook's own incubator. According to VOX, Google may be looking at creating a Facebook, if Dragonfly 'flies.' Sadly, the program failed before it could even develop, similar to what happened to Facebook's project.
Google's Dragonfly represents a shift in priorities for the company. However, with the censorship, Google's China plans may have to be put on hold. They also have to think of the company's employees, as well as stakeholders. Google's Dragonfly may yet fly, but it wouldn't be too soon.
