Google treats China staff to ‘Avatar‘ after threat

The company bought more than 200 tickets for the blockbuster and allowed staff members to take the afternoon off, the Beijing Daily reports.

BEIJING, January 15, 2010 (AFP) - Google's employees in China may soon be facing unemployment following the Internet giant's ultimatum to Beijing, but the US firm let them know they are appreciated -- by taking them to see "Avatar".

The company bought more than 200 tickets for the blockbuster and allowed staff members to take the afternoon off on Thursday to see it, the Beijing Youth Daily reported Friday.

The Internet giant said this week it may abandon its operations in China, the world's largest online market with 360 million web users, over web censorship and cyber attacks on its systems that allegedly originated in China.

Employees when contacted by AFP refused to immediately comment on the situation at the Google China offices.

China employs a vast system of web censorship dubbed the "Great Firewall of China" that blocks content viewed as objectionable -- including expressions of political dissent, pornography and violent material.