Google employees demand end to work on censored search engine for Chinese users

SAN FRANCISCO – Eleven employees comprising engineers and managers at Alphabet Inc.'s Google published an open letter on Tuesday, demanding that the company end development of a censored search engine for Chinese users, escalating earlier protests over the secretive project. Google has described the search app, known as Project Dragonfly, as an experiment not close to launching. But as details of it have leaked since August, current and former employees, human rights activists and U.S. lawmakers have criticized Google for not taking a harder line against the Chinese government's policy that politically sensitive results be blocked. Human rights group Amnesty International also launched a public petition on Tuesday calling on Google to cancel Dragonfly. The organization said it would encourage Google workers to sign the petition by targeting them on LinkedIn and protesting outside Google offices.