Mike Pence: Google Should ‘Immediately End Development’ of Censored Chinese ‘Dragonfly’ App

Speaking at the Hudson Institute recently, Vice President Mike Pence stated his belief that Google should immediately end the development of its censored Chinese search engine app, which is known as “Dragonfly.”

During a speech before the Hudson Institute, Vice President Mike Pence criticized what he believes is China’s theft of U.S. technology, urging Gooogle to take action on the issue. Pence said during the speech that other business leaders are hesitant to enter the Chinese market “if it means turning over their intellectual property or abetting Beijing’s oppression.”

Pence called on Google to listen to these other leaders and that “more must follow suit.” He also called on Google to end the development of its censored Chinese search engine project known as Dragonfly: “For example, Google should immediately end development of the ‘Dragonfly’ app that will strengthen Communist Party censorship and compromise the privacy of Chinese customers,” said Pence.

In a recent interview with Tucker Carlson, Chinese policy expert Dr. Michael Pillsbury stated that Big Tech giant Google is “highly embarrassed” over the recent “Project Dragonfly” leaks which showed the company planning to launch a censored search engine in China. The search giant’s project has been in development since Spring of 2017, and was accelerated in December 2017, following a meeting between company CEO Sundar Pichai and top Chinese government officials. Google engineers have created custom apps named “Maotai” and “Longfei,” which have already been demonstrated for Chinese officials and could be launched within the next six to nine months.

Pillsbury noted that eight years ago, Google co-founder Sergey brin received praise for refusing to do business with the Chinese government, a decision which now appears to have been completely reversed. “Fast forward eight years and Google has reversed itself, but done so secretly,” said Pillsbury, who believes that Congress should subpoena Google CEO Sundar Pichai and other executives to discover more about Project Dragonfly. Pillsbury said during the interview that Google is “highly embarrassed” about the leak of the censored search engine, stating that only a small group of employees even knew about the project. “I hate to say it’s a scandal, we use that word too much in Washington, but it’s a growing problem for Google,” said Pillsbury.

A Google spokesperson told Fox News at the time: “We’ve been investing for many years to help Chinese users, from developing Android, through mobile apps such as Google Translate and Files Go, and our developer tools. But our work on search has been exploratory, and we are not close to launching a search product in China.”

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com