Mainland authorities are investigating US Internet giant Google for launching its local service without the proper license, state press reported.
Internet search giant Google’s controversial expansion into China now faces possible trouble with regulators after a Beijing newspaper said its new Chinese-language platform does not have a licence.
The Beijing News reported that Google.cn, the company’s recently launched service that accommodates the China’s censorship demands, "has not obtained the ICP (Internet Content Provider) licence needed to operate Internet content services in China.”
The license number listed on the Google.cn site belongs to a Chinese company, the Beijing News reported.
"Without a license, foreign capital is not allowed to engage in telecom business, including ICP operations," the newspaper said. Instead of its own license, Google.cn is using the same one as Ganji.com, a Chinese information Web site.
A Google spokeswoman, who asked not to be identified, confirmed the company was using the ICP license of Ganji.com, but said it was operating through the proper channels.
Google has a partnership with Ganji.com through which we have the required license to operate the Google.cn service in China, the spokeswoman said. She said Google "clearly displays its ICP license number on the Google.cn site," but did not want to divulge other details, such as why it had not obtained its own license.
This has attracted the interest of the Ministry of Information Industry.
The Ministry of Information Industry, which regulates China’s–internet is aware of the status of Google’s Chinese operations, was "concerned" and that authorities are investigating the incident, the newspaper said.
A spokeswoman for Mountain View, Calif.-based Google said she would have to look into the matter and could not immediately comment. Phone calls to the Ministry of Information Industry, which regulates Internet services in China, were not answered.
Google has weathered criticism from United States lawmakers, international free speech advocates and Chinese dissidents for abiding by Chinese censors’ demands that searches on its new Chinese service block links about sensitive topics, such as: “Tibet and the 1989 anti-government protests in Tiananmen Square.”
Usually, foreign investors in Chinese internet services must hand over operation of the service itself to a Chinese partner, with the foreign investor receiving payment for technical support. Some other foreign Internet companies such as Yahoo and eBay Inc. also operate in China using the licenses of their local partners.
The paper said Google.cn’s operations appeared to be different and the name Ganji does not appear in reports about the US Company’s China activities.
Executives at Ganji.com and Ministry of Information Industry officials could not be immediately reached for comment on the report.
Silicon Valley-based Google caused uproar when it launched Google.cn because it agreed to censor Web sites and content banned by China’s propaganda chiefs.
Other major US Internet and tech firms such as Yahoo, Microsoft and Cisco have also been criticized for complying with, or aiding, China’s censorship efforts. With an online population of 111 million and growing, China is well on the way to becoming the world’s largest Internet market.