Google said it will stop automatically redirecting web searchers in China to an uncensored portal in Hong Kong as it hopes to convince Beijing to renew its operating license in the world’s largest internet market. “It’s clear from conversations we have had with Chinese government officials that they find the redirect unacceptable, and that if we continue redirecting users, our Internet Content Provider (ICP) license will not be renewed,” Chief Legal Officer David Drummond wrote in a blog, posted late on Monday night in the US.
“Without an ICP license, we can’t operate a commercial website like Google.cn so Google would effectively go dark in China.” Users are now required to click anywhere on the Google.cn page to get redirected to the Google Hong Kong search site, instead of being automatically rerouted.
Three months ago, Google closed its China-based search service and began rerouting traffic to an unfiltered search site in Hong Kong, drawing harsh comments from Beijing that raised doubts about the company’s future in China. Google, which battles Baidu in China’s 380 million user strong internet market, said in January it might quit the country over censorship and after it was hit by a sophisticated hacking attack that it said came from within China.
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