Huawei Search: China attacks Google
Huawei is launching its own search application. In doing so, the Chinese group is attacking the core business of its new competitor, Google. Many have already voiced their concerns about censorship.
A leak from Huawei shows a new facet of China's behaviour in this context of economic warfare. While the confrontation between Google and Huawei had until now remained cordial, the Chinese company is now showing its fangs. A leak shows Huawei Search, Huawei's search engine. Mishaal Rahman, editor of industry portal XDA-Developers, has learned from Reddit user /u/beingnull that Huawei is currently recruiting in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Users there are expected to test Huawei Search.
Huawei Search completes the foundations of a full app system, while sending a clear message to Google. The same group that just recently requested special permission to resume cooperation with the Chinese smartphone manufacturer.
Huawei Search, what is it?
Huawei Search is a search engine. This is the search bar where you can enter keywords for the search engine to carry out the search and give you results. In short, then, it's a tool that competes with Yandex, Bing, Google et al.
Source: XDA Developers
On the app's main page is a blue logo, reminiscent of the new logo for Microsoft's Edge browser. Below this logo is a search bar, then a few shortcuts to weather and sports apps, a converter and a calculator. Finally, a few headlines, probably selected according to your interests. In short, nothing you don't already know about the Google app.
Source: XDA Developers
Huawei Search lets you display all results or sort results by category: videos, news and images . Once again, nothing new under the sun. Just like the weather forecast, which saves you looking out of the window.
Source: XDA Developers
It is very interesting, however, to be able to tell the application from which country you want to search. Or whether the results should be international. It's a feature comparable to what you can already do in Twitter, where you can indicate which hashtags from which countries you want to view.
In the settings, you can view your search history and delete entries.
The app is available via an unofficial Google Drive link. But Huawei has pulled the plug on the test. The group expressed concerns about possible "abuse through social networks", whatever that means.
The dark side of the picture
So far, nothing too interesting. But Huawei Search becomes all the more interesting given Huawei's current situation and the general market context. During its heyday, since slowed somewhat by the economic war, Huawei founded a company called Aspiegel in Ireland. According to the end-user licence agreement (EULA), the said company is in charge of Huawei Search. As such, the app is geographically located outside the Chinese legal zone and could, if it wanted to, bypass Chinese government censorship regulations.
But Zak Doffman, founder of monitoring company Digital Barriers, expresses some concerns. In an article published on the website of financial newspaper Forbes, he writes:
This is a potential filter that sits atop the World Wide Web, serving up content for hundreds of millions of users worldwide. Whether or not you believe the U.S. allegations that Huawei is controlled by the Chinese state, that it is subsidised and subject to Beijing's national security laws, it is unarguably a company based in the most highly censored country on the planet.
According to this principle, it does not matter whether an Irish company is the legal owner of the application, there is no doubt that the Chinese legislator can and will have an influence on search results. Because even Google, despite its best efforts, is not immune from China. Google Hong Kong censors search results in line with the Chinese government's message. Case in point: nothing special happened in Heavenly Peace Square. Especially not a massacre in 1989. The photo of "the man from Tiananmen" was either not taken in China or has been retouched. Or something like that.
Z. Doffman's concerns are well-founded. Recent attempts at censorship in China concern information about the coronavirus. The censorship authorities, grouped under the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), are targeting anyone spreading fear and confusion about the virus.
The problem is that it is difficult to check whether the search engine has been censored. Because when you buy a Huawei phone, Google services are no longer installed by default. In other words, no Google Search app. What's more, few people bother to compare search results.
How many times have you done a second search on Bing to see if Google was really telling you the truth?
Journalist. Author. Hacker. A storyteller searching for boundaries, secrets and taboos – putting the world to paper. Not because I can but because I can’t not.