4.1.3 Censorship

By being information providers search engines have some obligations regarding the countries in which they are implemented.

China is often used as an example to introduce this issue. (United Nations. (n.d.). Human Rights Translated: A Business Reference Guide. p.54)

Censorship can mean that some search results have been removed or the access to the search engine has been denied.

All search engines and countries are concerned about those obligations. For example Google has as well to adapt to French, German Turkish and Argentinean regulations. (Turow, J. (2008). Media Today. p.559)/(Valle, F. S./Soghoian, C. (2008). Adios Diego: Argentine judges cleanse the Internet.)

The risk here is as mentioned before to believe that search engine are a trustful and unbiased source of information. Some companies such as Google seem clear and transparent about the policy they adopt for each country: "Figuring out how to deal with China has been a difficult exercise for Google. The requirements of doing business in China include self-censorship – something that runs counter to Google’s most basic values and commitments as a company."(Wickre, K. (2006). Testimony the Internet in China.).

But once more here Internet users have to be aware that censorship exists and to know which kind of content could have been removed.