…Governments have increasingly pressured ICT companies to police their platforms in a multitude of ways…All of this has resulted in a normalization of information controls and a decline in Internet openness in the world at large. It is possible that Google’s executive leadership has taken the view that China is no longer an outlier, but rather, a standard-bearer in online “rules of engagement.” Resisting no longer makes any business sense when the laws and policies of your country of origin and other active markets begin to resemble those of the country from which you withdrew…

Today’s ICT companies encounter a much more robust and emboldened regulatory environment in China than that which existed in 2010. China’s Cybersecurity Law, which went into effect on June 1, 2017, requires real name registration, data localization and disclosure, and content controls… Private companies…are building their business models predominantly around the needs of the state…

It is unclear how Google ever planned to reconcile Dragonfly with its own human rights and public policy commitments, or if it intends to formally weaken or abandon those commitments. For example, as part of the multi-stakeholder GNI, Google has “commit[ed] to implement the organization’s Principles on Freedom of Expression and Privacy.”…

…Dragonfly is yet another clear warning that the ground has shifted for proponents of human rights in the digital age. A digitized world increasingly looks like a surveilled and censored world; options for engagement that do not compromise human rights in some form are dwindling. Counter-norms, providing models through which both companies and governments ensure “human rights by design,” are urgently required…