Google Adds New Search Warning System for Chinese Users

On Thursday, May 31, Google announced that Chinese users of the search engine would get notifications on keywords that may cause disruption of service. Over the last couple of years Chinese users faced a break in connection when using Google and the internet search giant has claimed that this happens when certain terms are used in the search box. The situation got so bad in the last couple of weeks that users reported that even searches for restaurants and universities were causing problems.

The announcement from Google was only about the new feature and did not mention any thing about the ongoing battle between the Chinese government and the tech giant. The communist government of China censors the internet in the country and blocks sites that feature gambling and pornography. The authorities also ban content that is against the views of the ruling party and its policies. In 2010 Google withdrew its local search from China after it refused to alter it results based on the Chinese government’s requests. The company’s refusal of self censorship and their proposed exit from the country became a very public battle in which several government agencies seemed to be involve.  Google ended up staying in China but moved their search to Hong Kong where they do not have to follow mainland rules. This has seen a decline in service and the numbers of users from China as other local search engines have taken over from the American firm. Google has kept on hiring staff in the country and promotes other services that do not fall under the rules.

Google claimed that it had analyzed some 350,000 popular search terms from China to make a list of queries that were causing problems. Since the Chinese government does not publish a list of words or terms that can cause disconnects there is no way of confirming Google’s findings.