Google refused to call out China over disinformation about Hong Kong

https://www.businessinsider.com/google-doesnt-blame-china-hong-kong-disinformation-criticism-treason-2019-8

55 17 7 years ago

Google really wants to get back into China.

I guess I don't really blame them. I also really want GCP to enter China. It would make it so much easier to launch truly global services. I hate that "World except China" and "China" overhead.

(Maybe GCP needs to get slighly disconnected from the politicized part of Google - like Search and News?)

PhasmaFelis• 7 years ago

I feel like calling out human rights violations is more important than easily launching global web services, though.

groundlogic7• 7 years ago

I feel like they are separate tasks. Companies should be apolitical. Governments should be political. Governments should actively set limits for what companies can and should/should not do.

cco• 7 years ago

I cannot fathom why. What's the best case scenario? China lets them operate for long enough to absorb the tech they want and then give them the boot? Or is the best case scenario Google just continues to bow to China for the foreseeable future and are allowed to profit in exchange for subjugating the Chinese public?

Neither scenario smacks of success to me.

groundlogic7• 7 years ago

You make some good points.

I think Google would need to make an unacceptable faustian bargain with the CCP to gain access to the China market for e.g. cloud services.

I guess the obvious risk is that the CCP begins with a small demand, and than gradually increase the demands over a long period of time.

Aperocky• 7 years ago

Even Twitter and Facebook went only as far as to say "individuals affiliated to the Chinese government", which they're able to identify. Should Google, seeing that Chinese IP/VPN are used to create trolling videos immediately start saying the Chinese government is behind this _without definitive proof_? It's one thing to suspect, and another to attribute blame formally without concrete defining evidence.

Google refused to call out China over disinformation about Hong Kong

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