Google wants to get back into China, and after rejecting censorship since 2010, it now looks as though the search giant has had a change of heart. Yesterday we learned of a censored search service called Dragonfly being developed at Google for China. Now there's rumor of a news app, too.
As TechCrunch reports, alongside censored search, Google is working on a "government-friendly news app." It will use Google's algorithms and AI to select which stories to show users, but also take the extra step of blocking stories that don't comply with the Chinese government's strict censorship rules.
The news app is expected to release on app stores in Chine before the Dragonfly search service and associated app launch. However, thanks to President Trump's escalating trade war with China at the moment, Google is apparently finding it difficult to work with China's internet censor. There's little in way of motivation to do so as you can imagine.
It makes sense that China would cool its relations with US companies when the US government is demanding billions in new tariffs. It could even be the case that Google is forced to put its plans on hold until trade relations calm down again.
That could prove problematic due to the questions being asked this week regarding Google's sudden willingness to censor for access. Those questions won't disappear and Google's stock answer of "we don't comment on speculation about future plans" will soon become unacceptable.
Finally, it makes very little sense that Google would choose to comply with censorship in China, but decide to end its involvement with the Pentagon on an AI project. Is the new motto "Don't be evil (in America)"?