Google is still working on a CENSORED search engine for China despite insisting it had 'no plans' to release the software, employees claim

Employers in Google say 'Project Dragonfly' for relaunch in China is 'not dead'
They claim work has continued due to hundreds of code changes early this year
Google denies the claims and has reiterated it has 'no plans' to launch in China

Published: 06:07 EST, 5 March 2019 | Updated: 06:58 EST, 5 March 2019

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Google is still working on its controversial 'Project Dragonfly' to build a censored search engine for China despite claiming it had downed tools, whistle-blowers have claimed.

The company admitted last year it had been looking at options to build a specialist search engine in China, but that it had no plans to launch it.

The firm said it had 'effectively ended' the project, with CEO Sundar Pichai assuring US Congress in December that it had 'no plans' to release the software.

But new allegations from insiders at Google claim they have discovered hundreds of code changes on the project in the last few months.

They also claim the developments indicate that Google is still working on the project in secret.

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Work on Google's controversial 'Project Dragonfly' censored search engine for China is still ongoing, whistle-blowers have claimed. The company admitted last year it had been looking at options to build a specialist search engine in China (stock image)

Google employees who looked into the latest status of Project Dragonfly claim that budgets for the project still contained 100 personnel names, according to reports in The Intercept.

Around 500 alterations to the code used on the project were made in December, followed by 400 more at the start of this year, company insiders say.

Google was forced to abandon its plan to launch a specialist Chinese search engine last year after admitting it was working on a specialist search engine for China.

The revelation drew fierce criticism and pressure to shut down the initiative from its employees.

The firm abandoned an internal data analysis system which was being used to develop the search engine.

Responding to the latest allegations, a spokesman from Google said: 'This speculation is wholly inaccurate. Quite simply: there's no work happening on Dragonfly.

'As we've said for many months, we have no plans to launch Search in China and there is no work being undertaken on such a project. Team members have moved to new projects.'

WHAT IS GOOGLE'S 'PROJECT DRAGONFLY' SEARCH ENGINE?

'Dragonfly' is a rumoured effort inside Google to develop a search engine for China that would censor certain terms and news outlets, among other things.

Reports claim the tool ties users' Google searches to their personal phone numbers to help the Chinese government monitor its citizens.

Outside of high-profile leaks, few details have emerged on what the search engine entails as Google has kept tight-lipped on the project.

A former Google employee warned of the web giant's 'disturbing' plans in a letter sent to the US's senate's commerce committee in August.

Jack Poulson said the proposed Dragonfly website was 'tailored to the censorship and surveillance demands of the Chinese government'.

In his letter he also claimed that discussion of the plans among Google employees had been 'increasingly stifled'.

Mr Poulson was a senior research scientist at Google until he resigned in July 2018 in protest at the Dragonfly proposals.

Google pulled out of China in 2010 due to the firm's unwillingness to comply with the government's censorship policies.

The firm's search engine and mail services remain blocked in Mainland China along with Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, which means that Internet users cannot gain access to these sites.

In October 2018, however, The Intercept revealed the existence of a 'Project Dragonfly' to build a specialist Google search engine for China.

Given China's internet controls, any search engine would have to comply with the country's strict censorship policies to some extent.

But Google denied that the project was more than just sizing up options for reentry.

Keith Enright, Google’s chief privacy officer, told a Senate committee hearing last September that 'any relaunch in China would be “consistent with our values in privacy and data protection”.'

Chief Executive Sundar Pichai told a US congressional panel that no launch was planned in the country with the largest number of mobile phone users. Mr Pichai said that Google had over 100 people working on the project at one point

Chief Executive Sundar Pichai later told a US. congressional panel that while the project had over 100 people working on it at one point, the company had no plans to launch there.

Mr Pichai said: 'Right now there are no plans for us to launch a search product in China.... to the extent we approach a position like that, I will be fully transparent, including with policy makers here, and engage and consult widely.'

Since then, reports say that Google have been forced to abandon its specialist Chinese search engine Project Dragonfly that would censors results in line with government controls.

The firm was believed to have shut down an internal data analysis system which was being used to develop the search engine, known as Dragonfly.

According to a report from The Intercept, this 'effectively ended' the entire project.

Members of Google's privacy team raised concerns about the project initially in August last year.

By November, a top Google executive admitted for the first time to the existence of Project Dragonfly.

Over a thousand Google employees protested the project writing in Medium titled: 'We are Google employees. Google must drop Dragonfly.'

But there was also sharp divisions within Google as 500 employees penned an alternative letter saying the firm should move ahead with controversial Chinese search engine.

According to TechCrunch, the letter claimed that Dragonfly was 'well aligned with Google’s mission'.

'China has the largest number of Internet users of all countries in the world, and yet, most of Google’s services are unavailable in China.

'This situation heavily contradicts our mission, “to organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful', the letter read.