Latest statement on Google China

On January 12, we announced on this blog that Google and more than two dozen other U.S. companies were the victims of sophisticated cyberattacks emanating from China. In the course of our investigation into these attacks, we gathered evidence that the Gmail accounts of dozens of China-related human rights activists were regularly accessed by third parties. Most of this intrusion is done through phishing software or malware installed on their computers. These attacks and the online censorship issues they expose, combined with further restrictions on online freedom of expression in China since last year, including the continued blocking of sites such as FaceBook, Twitter, YouTube, Google Docs, and Blogger, lead us to conclude: We cannot continue to self-censor search results on Google.cn.

As of this morning, we have stopped self-censoring our Google.cn Search services, including Google Search, Google News and Google Images. Visitors to Google.cn will from now on be directed to Google.com.hk, where we will provide uncensored simplified Chinese search results designed for mainland Chinese users through our servers in Hong Kong. Users in Hong Kong will also continue to receive the same uncensored traditional Chinese search service as they do now through Google.com.hk. As we make the migration, due to the increased server load in Hong Kong and the complexity of these changes, users may experience slower search speeds or find certain products temporarily inaccessible.

Implementing our commitment to stop censoring search results on Google.cn has been a difficult process. The Chinese government has been very clear in our discussions that self-censorship is a non-negotiable legal requirement. We very much hope that the Chinese government respects our decision, although we know that access to Google services could be blocked at any time. To that end, we are closely monitoring access issues and have created a new page where users can see in real time which Google services are available in China.

As for Google's extensive business operations, we plan to continue our research and development work in China and will retain a sales team, although the size of the sales team will obviously depend in part on the accessibility of Google.com.hk to mainland Chinese users. Finally, we want to be clear: all of these decisions were made and implemented by the management team in the United States, and no single Chinese employee can or should be held responsible for them. Since we launched the blog in January, they have stayed on the job and focused on serving our users and customers in China despite the many uncertainties and difficulties they have faced. We are very proud to have such employees.