Google denies working with the Chinese military after Trump criticism โ€“ NBC News

What happened: Google has denied claims it is working with the Chinese military following public criticism from US President Donald Trump, who tweeted on Sunday that the company is โ€œhelping China and their military, but not the US.โ€ Trumpโ€™s remarks came just days after Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest-ranking military advisory committee in the US, testified before Congress that China is benefiting from Googleโ€™s involvement in the country.

Why itโ€™s important: Trumpโ€™s comments highlight a sore point. He obviously views Google as not having fallen in line with his โ€œAmerica firstโ€ rhetoric. The company has opted to drop a contract to help the US military analyze aerial drone footage. It has also said it would no longer pursue a $10 billion cloud computing deal with the Department of Defense, saying its ethical guidelines arenโ€™t aligned with the project. Meanwhile, Google has been exploring a China-focused search product dubbed โ€œProject Dragonfly.โ€ The company says it has no plans to launch the search engine, although work seems to be ongoing, as Google eyes the worldโ€™s largest internet population.

Christopher Udemans is TechNode's former Shanghai-based data and graphics reporter. He covered Chinese artificial intelligence, mobility, cleantech, and cybersecurity.

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