The G2 and Google’s self discipline

Online media must treat the creation of a positive mainstream opinion environment as an important duty.

Those are the words of Mr Wang Chen, head of China’s State Council Information Office and deputy head of the Communist party’s propaganda department, quoted from FT. The Chinese government’s primary concerns related to online content remain security (sic), pornography and “the truth” (Beijing’s definition of free expression of opinion). The recent cyber attacks originating from China on Google, Symantec, Juniper and other technology companies, followed by Google’s announcement that it is no longer willing to censor search results on its Chinese site, is not good news for Chinese companies, such as Huawei, seeking to invest in the US, win government contracts or sell products considered vulnerable to security leaks.