Google Leaving China: Reality or Unrealistic Activist Hopes?

Recently, Google received a hacking attack into its corporate infrastructure. The company has “…evidence to suggest that a primary goal of the attackers was accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists,” stated Google in a blog post, bringing light to the attack on expression as available through internet content viewable by Chinese citizens.

While China says it wants to protect its citizens from the Internet’s “immoral and harmful content,” the actions of this attack speak volumes in the silence that citizens are forced into with regard to freedom of speech.

In the article, Google Search Engine’s Future in China is Unclear, Michael Liedtke says that “For years, Google faced withering criticism for what activists and lawmakers said was a willingness to abandon social responsibility in return for greater wealth.” Google is very public about the attack it sustained and is clearly drawing a line which may well serve to stir the pot and possibly evoke protest among the Chinese populace.

“We have taken the unusual step of sharing information about these attacks with a broad audience not just because of the security and human rights implications of what we have unearthed, but also because this information goes to the heart of a much bigger global debate about freedom of speech,” says Google.

I’m not so sure Google should be praised so highly for threatening to pull out of China. In reality, the corporate giant will sustain minimal loss in leaving one of its weakest markets and is likely to gain favorable publicity, which should, in-turn, increase  its revenue by increase in traffic, increase usage of their various applications and possibly an increase in stock investments.

Not to say that this wouldn’t be a positive move for Google to make, but the question still remains as to whether or not they will decide to leave the country altogether or work out some sort of compromise that will make both parties slightly happier.

At this point if Google decided to stay in China, it may very well do more damage in its other markets since the company is currently getting tons of praise for its stated positions and potential threat to abandon the Chinese internet market.

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