Google is not close to launching a search engine in China, its chief executive said at a companywide meeting, according to a transcript seen by Reuters. Employees of Google called for more transparency and oversight of the project to launch again in China.
CEO Sundar Pichai told staff that providing more services in the world’s most populous country fits with Google’s global mission. However, development of the China launch is still at an early stage, and it was "all very unclear" whether the project would go ahead, he said..
The statement follows earlier reports that Google was willing to block certain websites and search terms in order to gain approval for its service from the Chinese government. This has disturbed some Google employees and human rights advocacy organizations. They are concerned that by agreeing to censorship demands, Google would validate China’s prohibitions on free expression and violate the 'don’t be evil' clause in the company’s code of conduct.
Employees petition
Hundreds of employees have called on the company to provide more "transparency, oversight and accountability", according to an internal petition reported by the New York Times. After a separate petition this year, Google announced it would not renew a project to help the US military develop artificial intelligence technology for drones.
Employees have asked Google to create an ethics review group with rank-and-file workers, appoint ombudspeople to provide independent review and internally publish assessments of projects that raise substantial ethical questions.
Pichai told employees: "We’ll definitely be transparent as we get closer to actually having a plan of record here" on Dragonfly. He noted the company guards information on some projects where sharing too early can "cause issues".
