---
title: "Google “Terminated” Its Chinese Search Engine Plans"
description: "Google has reportedly decided to halt plans for launching a censored search engine in China.\"We have terminated Project Dragonfly.\""
date: "2019-07-18"
modified: "2019-07-18"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/google-terminated-chinese-search-engine"
categories:
  - "Artificial Intelligence"
  - "Future Society"
  - "Google"
tags:
  - "china"
  - "Google"
  - "project dragonfly"
  - "the digest"
---

# Google “Terminated” Its Chinese Search Engine Plans

![Google has reportedly decided to halt plans for launching a censored search engine in China."We have terminated Project Dragonfly."](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/google-terminated-its-chinese-search-engine-plans.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Project Dragonfly

Google has reportedly decided to halt plans for a censored search engine in China.

"We have terminated Project Dragonfly," Google executive Karan Bhatia told the US Senate Judiciary Committee, answering questions about Google's business relationship with China.

## I Spy

Google was [reportedly planning](<https://theintercept.com/2018/09/14/google-china-prototype-links-searches-to-phone-numbers/>) to link users' searches to their personal phone numbers for the scrapped search engine, which would make it easier for the Chinese government to spy on them. It would've also blacklisted certain search terms.

*The Intercept* [first reported](<https://theintercept.com/2018/12/17/google-china-censored-search-engine-2/>) that the project "effectively ended" in 2018 after members of the company's privacy team raised concerns over the fact that plans for the project were kept secret from them.

## Censorship Search

In December, Google CEO [Sundar Pichai claimed](<https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/12/18136544/sundar-pichai-google-house-hearing-china-dragonly>) that Google had "no plans" to launch such a Chinese search engine "right now."

But rumors that Project Dragonfly was still alive cropped up earlier this year. *The Verge* [pointed out](<https://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2019/3/4/18250285/google-dragonfly-censored-search-engine-code-dead-employees-doubt>) in March that some Google employees weren't even convinced the project was truly terminated.

**READ MORE:** [Google's Project Dragonfly 'terminated' in China](<https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-49015516>) \[*BBC*\]

**More on Project Dragonfly:** *[Google Is Finally Ready to Talk About Its Chinese Search Engine](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/google-ready-talk-chinese-search-engine>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)