Beijing: After a gap of eight years, Google Maps is now available for Chinese internet users. This reflects the shift in the Chinese policy towards the U.S. tech giant.
According to the news reported in Nikkei Asia Review, though the Google’s flagship search function is still not accessible in China, users of internet in China can now seek directions on these maps.
Chinese netizens have hailed the revival of Google maps which was unavailable since 2010.
Under President Xi Jinping, to crackdown dissent on online, Chinese government’s cyber security law took effect in June 2017. But, China is also ambitious in developing artificial intelligence technologies. For this reason, both the Chinese government and Google had decided to keep aside discussions and instead cooperate on Artificial intelligence development.
Such cooperation will help Artificial intelligence experts from both sides for effective research and development.
Other companies such as Apple and Amazon have to comply with cyber security law such as by handing over data-center operations to Chinese companies.
Meanwhile, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is thought to have explored the prospect of expanding to China where facebook is currently blocked. But there are concerns with meeting China’s demands on data management and self-censorship as it would damage the reputation of the company in the US and Europe.