China Renews Google License Amidst Censorship Tension
Google confirms China has renewed its ICP license to operate for another year, but no elaborate announcements have been issued.
Reports from AFP and AP said Marsha Wang, Chinese spokeswoman for Google was quoted that its subsidiary in China, Beijing Guxiang Information Technology Co. Ltd has passed the annual 2011 assessment hosted by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
The Chinese government indicated on the ministry's website that the company also needs to make necessary adjustments in its operations as several other companies made alterations to their shareholding structure without official permission.
BBC said in a related report that in March last year Google moved its search engine services to Hong Kong in protest against China's censorship and hacking.
The Chinese government regulates the contents on the internet through overseeing and licensing of internet companies. Among the websites censored are Facebook, Twitter, and Google's YouTube in favor of Chinese internet companies such as Baidu.
Google has been losing a chunk of market share in China, considered to be the largest internet market with more than 485 million web users at the end of June this year. But the giant search engine continues to earn revenues from Chinese advertisers interested in reaching prospects abroad.