Google hasn't had much of a presence in China for roughly a decade, but last year, news broke that the company was working on versions of Search and News that complied with local censorship laws. After months of pressure, both internal and external, Google confirmed to U.S. officials that the project is over.

During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Google VP of public policy Karan Bhatia told officials, "We have terminated Project Dragonfly." Project Dragonfly was the codename for the censored search engine. The company later told BuzzFeed News in a statement, "We have no plans to launch Search in China and there is no work being undertaken on such a project."

Project Dragonfly was being worked in near secrecy when news first broke, and many employees protested the effort. Google was also heavily criticised by many media outlets for working closely with the Chinese government it was even reported that the censored News application was intended as a good-will gesture towards Chinese officials. Rumors began to circulate in December that Project Dragonfly was dead, and now Google has seemingly put it to rest.

Source: BuzzFeed News

Via: BBC