The topic of Google’s censored Chinese search engine project, dubbed Dragonfly, is a controversial one. It all started with a rumor that was debunked and reconfirmed all over again since August, to the point where its operating principles got leaked, which triggered the White House to publicly call upon Google to cease the project. Several hundreds and thousands of Google employees were protesting since August against the censored Chinese search project.

Reuters reports that more than 200 Alphabet workers, including engineers, designers and managers, signed an open letter on Tuesday. They demanded the end of the censored search engine development. Amnesty International, a human rights group, also joined their efforts publishing a petition to cancel Dragonfly yesterday. It aims to “encourage Google workers to sign the petition by targeting them on LinkedIn and protesting outside Google offices”, says the report.

An unnamed official at the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said “there was “no indication” from Google that it had adjusted earlier plans to eventually launch the search app”. Speaking to Reuters in no official capacity and without authorization, the official claimed that a 2019 launch of Dragonfly was “unrealistic”, without going into details.