**Update 18 June 2019: All of your signing, emailing and tweeting have had an effect! On the eve of its shareholder meeting, Google's CEO Sundar Pichai made clearer statements on project Dragonfly. He stated that there are 'no plans' to relaunch in China and that 'we are not spending time on it'. In addition he stated that censorship-free internet is an "important condition" to reconsider, but didn't comment on the issues of cyber-surveillance. This is a great step forwards and now we need to work to make Google put the processes in place to prevent future 'project Dragonfly's' -- as well as assess all human rights implications of its projects.**
**Update 30 May 2019: Since we started this campaign, Google execs have become nervous about Dragonfly. But while they say there are no plans to launch it right now, they refuse to rule it out in future. And that’s why we can’t stop now. In a couple of weeks we'll be at the Google annual shareholder meeting to deliver this petition. Will your name be there?**
Right now at least a million people are being detained in mass internment camps by the authorities in China simply because they’re Muslim.
And yet, Google is currently developing a censored search engine for China.
Google is helping the government of China whitewash its brutal human rights record -- and even Google’s own employees are fighting back.
The new app -- dubbed ‘Dragonfly’ -- could be launched in as little as 6 months, but with your help we can show Google it’s unacceptable to profit from the government of China’s brutal human right abuses.
Dragonfly will block internet users in China from searching for information about the exiled Tibetan leader, the Dalai Lama, and human rights abuses committed by their own government.
And while Google is doing business with government officials, Uyghur Muslims who were-detained in the government’s so-called ‘re-education’ camps report being abused, forced to learn Mandarin and undergo political indoctrination.
Uyghur families are also being forced to welcome government officials to stay in their homes for up to one week per month. These live-in officials require families to provide detailed information on their personal lives and political views, and subject them to "political education".
Of course, the government of China is no stranger to brutal repression. It has committed large scale human rights abuses against the Tibetan people for decades using the same argument -- combating extremism and terrorism -- that it’s using to justify mass detention and surveillance of Uyghur Muslims now.
By choosing to develop Dragonfly, Google is sending a clear message that censorship is okay and is endorsing the government of China’s crackdown against freedom of speech, online freedom and other human rights.
According to conservative estimates, there are at least 2,000 political prisoners in Tibet. Tibetans are arrested, beaten and imprisoned for acts as small as blogging about human rights, and protests are routinely broken up with violence. Torture is widespread.
In mainland China too, extensive monitoring of the internet has resulted in hundreds of people being arrested and imprisoned for discussing democracy and human rights online. Rights defenders and critics of the government are routinely tortured and detained for lengthy periods. Several political prisoners have died in custody in China in recent years, among them Nobel Peace Laureate and Chinese democracy activist Liu Xiaobo.
With Dragonfly, Google is serving to legitimise the repressive regime of the government of China and support the limiting of civil and political freedoms.
More information
Google CEO evasive when asked about Dragonfly by Congress
Techspot. 11 December 2018.
Techspot. 11 December 2018.
The great firewall of China: Xi Jinping’s internet shutdown
The Guardian. 29 June 2018.
The Guardian. 29 June 2018.
Google plans to launch censored search ending in China, leaked documents reveal
The Intercept. 1 August 2018.
The Intercept. 1 August 2018.
Tracking China’s Muslim Gulag
Reuters. 28 November 2018.
Reuters. 28 November 2018.
Google employees sign letter against censored search engine for China
The Guardian. 27 November 2018.
The Guardian. 27 November 2018.
