Tibet Groups Slam Google’s Plans for Internet Censorship

By Mary Trewartha / August 23, 2018;

Google CEO Sundar Pichai
Photo:Business Insider

A coalition of 170 Tibet groups from around the world has written to Google, demanding it immediately abandon its plans to develop a censored search engine app in China.

Google withdrew from China in 2010, refusing to conform to China’s demands that it self-censor its content. It has now emerged that, in an attempt to appease China, Google intends to set up a project codenamed Dragonfly to comply with China’s strict censorship rules and which will lead to Google censoring content pertaining to human rights, Tibet, Tiananmen, democracy and His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

In their letter addressed to Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai and dated August 22, the rights groups – including Free Tibet, Tibet Society and member groups of International Tibet Network – expressed their deep concern over the human rights implications of Google’s censorship plans. They say they want to see Google implement comprehensive measures to ensure the company does not compromise on its principles in order to maximise profits.

“Until April this year, Google’s code of conduct began with the motto ‘Don’t be evil’. Google’s executives should consider whether helping the Chinese authorities to shield the people under its repressive rule from human rights and democracy is worth the price of operating in China,” said John Jones, Campaigns and Advocacy Manager at Free Tibet.

The letter continues, “There is little doubt that Dragonfly would have an immense negative impact on the human rights of Chinese citizens, Tibetans, Uyghurs and other nationalities who, like all global citizens, deserve an undivided internet and free access to information.”

Today the Chinese government runs one of the most repressive internet censorship regimes in the world and extensive monitoring of the internet in China has resulted in hundreds of people being arrested and imprisoned for discussing democracy and human rights online, as part of a wider effort to crush all forms of peaceful online dissent.This is particularly relevant in Tibet where, according to conservative estimates, there are at least 2,000 political prisoners.

Freedom of expression, online and offline, is virtually non-existent in Tibet and the strict internet censorship there serves to hide from the outside world the ongoing and large-scale human rights abuses committed against the Tibetan people.