China Renews Google's Content Provider License

Posted 07/09/2010 at 7:48am | by Pulkit Chandna

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Last month, Google stopped automatically redirecting Chinese search traffic to its uncensored Hong Kong site, opting instead for a landing page that contains a link to the uncensored site. The search engine giant was made to rethink its approach after it began to threaten its request for a fresh Internet Content Provider (ICP) license.

Google's legal boss David Drummond had said last month: “It’s clear from conversations we have had with Chinese government officials that they find the redirect unacceptable—and that if we continue redirecting users our Internet Content Provider license will not be renewed (it’s up for renewal on June 30).”

The new approach seems to have done the trick. “We are very pleased that the government has renewed our ICP license and we look forward to continuing to provide web search and local products to our users in China,” Google said on its official blog. The announcement comes after days of suspense surrounding the fate of Google's application for a fresh license.