Google Stops Filtering China Search Engine

Chinese Internet users may now use Google’s search engine in that country without worrying about censorship. Google Inc.  has moved its Chinese search engine out of China to provide uncensored search results for the millions of users in the world’s most populous country.

Beginning today, users of Google.cn will be redirected to the Internet giant’s Hong Kong site, where they can get the results they want without the filtering system that they have grown accustomed to in the last four years. The move is part of Google’s strategy to bypass China’s strict censorship rules without losing the growing market in the country.

However, Google’s action is not expected to escape the scrutiny of the Chinese government. Analysts, including Ben Schachter at San Francisco’s Broadpoint Am Tech Inc., believe that it may not be long before the Chinese government blocks Google.com.hk, where search requests from China are redirected.

Google had previously vowed to end its operations in mainland China, but backtracked a bit in order to avoid losing the huge Internet market in the Asian country.