To give you a better sense of the context of these developments, a bit of background on the relationship between Google and China is necessary. In 2006, Google and the Chinese government came to an agreement that Google could enter the Chinese market on the condition that the company rid search results within the country of topics that were banned by Chinese officials. For example, if you used Google in China and you searched "Tienanmen Square," you might get results about the geographic area of the location, but you wouldn't see any results regarding the infamous protest that took place in the Square in 1989. This censorship serves the strict policies of the Chinese officials to prevent its citizens from publishing or viewing content in dissent of the Chinese government.
What got me so excited about the prospect of this threat is the statement that it would send to the Chinese government and the world. The biggest search engine in the world pulling out of the Chinese market says, "The rest of the world will not tolerate the policies of censorship and human rights violations of the Chinese government. If you wish to have major providers like Google within your borders and help bolster your economy, you will have to learn to adapt to our standards, and not the other way around." Imagine if Google was the first domino in a long line of companies that fought for the same cause? Then, the Chinese government might actually have to work towards the "free Internet" that they supposedly promote.
Feeling inspired? You should stop reading now.
Today, I did some more research into Google's relationship with China and have come to the conclusion that, even if Google sticks by their guns and pulls out of the Chinese market, it might not be for all of the right reasons.
According to a recent JP Morgan estimate, Google is projected to make $600 million dollars in the Chinese market this year. While that amount of money seems like a fortune, it amounts to a little more than pocket change for this Internet juggernaut. The truth of the matter is, Google's business wasn't doing all that well in China. The former head of Google's Chinese division, Kai-Fu Lee, said in an interview with TechCrunch last October that his primary reason for leaving Google was because, "it was clear the company was never going to substantially increase its market share or beat Baidu." Baidu is a search engine controlled by the Chinese government and is the leading search engine in China.
At bottom, I think Google is using is trying to turn a financial negative into a marketing positive. They realize that they don't have the top market share and that their long-term growth numbers aren't working out as they had hoped against Baidu, so they are playing the human rights card in an attempt to improve their image worldwide. Perhaps if Google really wanted to make a social statement, they would have made a move like this before the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
Don't get me wrong, if Google does pull out of China, I will be happy about the message sent to the Chinese government, I'm just incredibly disappointed that their withdrawal wasn't for the right reasons.
