Users Cite “Irreconcilable Differences” as They Protest at Google Offices Around the World
New York – Thousands of Tibetans and Google users dumped the search engine in a mass “breakup” today as they boycotted Google services and protested at offices around the world. Jilted users staged dramatic public “breakups” and delivered life-sized “NO LUV” candy hearts and giant broken Valentine’s cards to Google citing “irreconcilable differences” over the launch of Google.cn, which provides only Chinese government-approved information to internet users in China and Tibet.
“I still don’t understand how Google could betray us like this,” said Lhadon Tethong, Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet and former Google user. “I thought I knew Google. I believed Google’s motto, ‘Don’t be evil.’ But the fact is that Google abandoned its beliefs in search of bigger profits, just like so many other western companies heading to China.”
“Google jumped into bed with the devil,” said Han-shan, another devastated former customer. “I can’t, in good conscience, be with Google while Google’s partnered with the Chinese government in its repression of more than a billion people in Tibet and China. Google, it’s over between us.”
Thousands of people publicly dumped Google in the lead up to Valentine’s Day and posted heart wrenching “breakup stories” on www.NoLuv4Google.com, a website sponsored by Students for a Free Tibet (SFT). Google users condemn the company for assisting the Chinese government in censoring and distorting information in China and Tibet, thereby depriving Tibetans, Uighurs, democracy advocates, and others of a critical tool for improving their political situation. To date, over 45,000 protest emails have been sent to Google executives.
The web search platform, Google.cn, launched on January 25th, is custom-built to the Chinese authorities’ specifications to block access to and distort information on Tibet, human rights, and other topics “sensitive” to Beijing.
Google rivals Yahoo! and Microsoft are also under fire for censoring information, shutting down websites, and providing private data used by the Chinese authorities to prosecute journalists and democracy advocates. Tomorrow, February 15th, Google, Yahoo! Microsoft and Cisco are scheduled to testify before the joint Congressional Subcommittee on Human Rights and Asia and the Pacific about its Chinese operations.
