Google Considering Censored Search Engine for Return to China

If completed, move would mark a dramatic about face for Google that is certain to fuel controversy among human-rights advocates and many of its own employees

Google is testing a mobile version of its search engine that would adhere to China’s strict controls over content, a person familiar with the matter said, indicating renewed interest in a market that the Alphabet Inc. unit abandoned eight years ago in protest over government censorship.

Plans for Google’s censored search product aren’t completed and it may never come to fruition, the person said. Chief among the hurdles, Google would need approval to re-enter the search market from Chinese authorities, who currently block...