On Monday, March 22, 2010, Google has stopped censoring search results on Google Search, Google News, and Google Images in China. Censoring Internet search has been predominant in China as a means of preventing social and political deviation; before Monday, Google has been following suit.  According to Google, they are making this move for security reasons due to hacking attempts coming from China.  As a result, they have performed a workaround that will redirect visitors from google.cn to google.cn.hk, delivered through Hong Kong servers – a very legal yet controversial move.

Google has become an industry giant because of its ability to return relevant search results quickly and it weakens without being able to do so, whether because of technology or laws.

As the event unfolds, it is uncertain how the Chinese government will respond, however, we will discuss the possible pros and cons:

Cons: Acting against the ideal wishes of the Chinese government, Google may be losing some market internet share if the government decides to shut access to Google in China altogether. This means huge potential loss in Google paid search advertising as well as monetization on other Google properties such as Gmail and Picasa.

Pros: Whether or not the Chinese government decides to censor Google, this bold move will likely appeal to the younger masses who are more inclined to tolerate or champion free speech and free search.  So even if it has to sit on the sidelines for a while, it has potential to get back in the game in the future.

Is this the case of Google wanting to have its cake and eating it too by desiring to expand its internet marketing share in a country while bypassing its government ideals?  Stay tuned…

This was brought to you by Pay1Day.com, direct payday lender online.