Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Google.com services blocked in China Mainland

Google.com, gmail, analytics, adsense, adwords, blogger and other google-based services are not accessible from within mainline China. Only google.cn is available.

I've written before about how sometimes my blog disappears from within China and I'm still not clear about China's official internet policy or how it even operates. Because of that, I'm not exactly sure what is happening right now. This could be about pornography, political dissent or something else.

Or this may just be a staring contest between two 800 lb gorillas and I think China will win.

Google will lose a huge amount of revenue in ad delivery when it loses access to the Chinese market. China doesn't stand to lose all that much actually - as its home to many native search competitors such as Baidu and Sohu.

Google will likely be back in with modified terms and restrictions and I expect to see many more of these "China Flexing Its Muscles" showdowns in the coming years.