White House Calls On Google To Abandon Chinese Search Engine Spy Project

Google’s censored search engine and news app for China has seen a considerable amount of controversy since news of the project first broke, but it may have just gotten its biggest pushback yet in the form of direct opposition from the Trump administration. According to The Wall Street Journal, Vice President Mike Pence commented today in a speech that Google’s modified search engine — currently under the codename Dragonfly — would “strengthen Communist Party censorship and compromise the privacy of Chinese customers.”

The Intercept was the first to break the news about the censored search app earlier this year, with later reports revealing that Dragonfly reportedly links searches to phone numbers, making it easy for searches to be tracked and tied to specific individuals.