Report finds Yahoo worst search censor in China

Paris-based Reporters Without Borders has issued a report finding that of the major Internet search engines operating in China, Yahoo censored more terms in a limited test it conducted.

The group used six terms, including "Falungong," "Tibet Independence" and "Democracy," and noted what the first 10 results were on the Chinese sites of Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and the local Baidu.com. While there is no official published list of banned terms provided by the Chinese government, the companies are believed to follow the same general guidelines.

"While yahoo.cn censors results as strictly as baidu.cn, search engines google.cn and the beta version of msn.cn (beta.search.msn.com.cn) let through more information from sources that are not authorized by the authorities," Reporters Without Borders said in a news release on Thursday.

"The press freedom organization is particularly shocked by the scale of censorship on yahoo.cn. first because the search results on 'subversive' key words are 97 percent pro-Beijing," the group said. "It is therefore censoring more than its Chinese competitor Baidu."

Reporters Without Borders called on search engines operating in what it said were "repressive" countries to refuse to censor protected content, such as information about human rights and democracy.

Yahoo spokespeople were not available for comment.