More than 30 Google employees have joined a petition protesting the company’s plans to build a search engine that complies with China’s online censorship regime. An employee-led backlash against the project has been churning for months at the company, but Tuesday’s petition marks the first time workers at Google have used their names in a public document objecting to the plans.
The existence of the project, code-named Dragonfly, was confirmed by chief executive Sundar Pichai last month. While China has long blocked search queries for what it has deemed politically sensitive material, Pichai said Google could still help Chinese internet users find other information, such as health treatments, or steer them away from scams.
But the project has drawn critics who question Google’s corporate values and have raised concerns about the consequences of tech companies cooperating with authoritarian governments.
