Google To Pull The Plug In China?

If you believe the Wall Street Journal [Paywall, copy the title into Google, click search and click the link to read the full text], that’s apparently on the table in Google HQ:

A person familiar with situation said on Saturday that Google is likely to take action within weeks. Separately, Chinese authorities on Friday told local news Web sites that Google’s Chinese site is likely to close and that, if it does, the news sites will be required to use only official accounts of the situation, rather than publish stories from anywhere else, according to a person familiar with the order.

You’ll recall that Google and China have been butting heads over censorship and the fact that some Gmail accounts that belonged to some human rights activists were apparently hacked by someone within China. Both sides have been talking, but it seems that the endgame is near and Google is willing to walk away from 36% of the search engine market in that country. Right now China doesn’t seem to be too bothered by it, but one wonders if that will change if Google does pull the plug.

Stay tuned, this is going to get very interesting.

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