Not long after Facebook’s Hangzhou subsidiary launch, Google was reported to be planning a launch of a censored search engine in China. A poll was created on Weibo asking “if Google returns to China, which will you choose between Google and Baidu?”. 72.8% voted for Google.
Google released its first WeChat Mini-Programs “Guess My Sketch” in July 2018, which went viral on WeChat Moments for a while.
Later on August 6, the state-run People’s Daily posted an article on its Twitter and Facebook accounts that Google is welcome to return to the mainland China but it must comply with local laws.
Robin Li Yanhong, chairman and CEO of Baidu, commented on his WeChat Moments that Baidu has the confidence to defeat Google again if it returns.
China has seen the internet being developed at an unprecedented speed, with the number of mobile internet users more than doubled, from 303 million in 2010 to over 800 million in 2018. Baidu has kept the leading position in the search engines market for years.
While Google kept taking over 90% shares of global search market for years running, with Baidu only took less than 2%.
It’s a big challenge and question mark whether Google makes its search engine available in China again. Its workers are already protesting its censored search engine plans for China. And, Google is not close to launching a search product in China according to its CEO.
A survey might not tell what will really happen if Google did return to China with a search product. But the poll on Weibo by Sina Jiangsu account has been deleted.
Find out Mobile Search Engine Market in China