The Chinese government has initiated an antitrust probe into Google, marking the latest development in the complex relationship between the two entities dating back to the early 2000s. This investigation is part of a series of retaliatory measures announced by China in response to a 10% tariff imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump on imports from China. Alongside the probe into Google, China also imposed tariffs on American liquified natural gas and other products, and placed two American firms on an unreliable entity list that could restrict their investments in China.
Google's history in China dates back to 2006 when it launched the Chinese-language search engine google.cn, which was censored to comply with Beijing's laws. By 2009, Google held a significant market share in China, but in 2010, following a cyberattack and growing resistance to censorship rules, Google ceased blocking search results and shut down its Chinese search engine, redirecting users to its Hong Kong site. Subsequently, Beijing blocked access to Google services, including Gmail, Chrome browser, and the search engine, under its Great Firewall censorship system.
