Controversial Google Dragonfly project called off, reveals Karan Bhatia, VP of Public Policy

Google has officially shutdown its controversial Dragonfly project that aimed to launch a search engine customised for China. The much criticised project from Google has been terminated according to VP of Public Policy Karan Bhatia. Bhatia told the US Senate Judiciary Committee and highlighted that Google has no plans to launch a censored search in China and that no work is being undertaken on such a project.

Google's Dragonfly project had faced criticism as a potential means through which Chinese authorities could censor web content and monitor citizens' behaviour online according to a BBC report.

Google had not reported anything on the development of search engine, or project's termination despite growing pressure.

Google terminated a number of services in China in 2010 amid concerns of surveillance and censorship by the country’s authoritarian government, but has been aiming to comeback in the market for the past few years.