Skip to Content
Silicon Valley

Google has “terminated” its project to build a search engine for China

Google dragonfly
Google dragonflychiccabubble from the Noun Project | Erin Winick

The year-long project to build a censored search engine for the Chinese market, dubbed Project Dragonfly, had been heavily criticized in the US.

The news: Google executive Karan Bhatia testified at a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday that it has ended the program. “We have terminated Project Dragonfly,” he said. 

The Intercept reported the project had “effectively ended” in December 2018, and Google confirmed this to The Verge in March, but some Google employees believed the company was continuing to work on it anyway. This is the first public confirmation that it has been abandoned.

What was it? A search engine for China that would reportedly have linked users’ searches to their personal phone numbers, making it harder to avoid official surveillance. It would have operated as part of a joint venture with an unnamed Chinese partner. The search engine would have been required to blacklist certain search terms.

Once bitten, twice shy: It’s easy to see the appeal of pushing into China for Google: it’s the single biggest market for internet users anywhere. However, it would be a very tricky relationship to manage, especially in the context of US concerns over censorship, plus the trade war and tensions between the US and China. Google launched a search engine in China once before, in 2006, but it exited the Chinese market in 2010 after it was hacked. And even if Google is still interested in China, it’s far from clear that China is open to allowing Google back in.  

Sign up here for our daily newsletter The Download to get your dose of the latest must-read news from the world of emerging tech.

Keep Reading

Most Popular

Geoffrey Hinton tells us why he’s now scared of the tech he helped build

“I have suddenly switched my views on whether these things are going to be more intelligent than us.”

ChatGPT is going to change education, not destroy it

The narrative around cheating students doesn’t tell the whole story. Meet the teachers who think generative AI could actually make learning better.

Meet the people who use Notion to plan their whole lives

The workplace tool’s appeal extends far beyond organizing work projects. Many users find it’s just as useful for managing their free time.

Learning to code isn’t enough

Historically, learn-to-code efforts have provided opportunities for the few, but new efforts are aiming to be inclusive.

Stay connected

Illustration by Rose Wong

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

Explore more newsletters

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.