The Beijing News reports Tuesday that Google has not obtained the proper license for a foreign-owned Internet content provider.
A Google spokeswoman issued a statement Tuesday saying the company has the required license which it shares through a partnership agreement with a local Chinese company, Gangi.com. She says it clearly displays the license number on its site.
The company has faced criticism from international rights groups and U.S. lawmakers for recently agreeing to censor what its search engine users in China can find on the internet.
Earlier this month, U.S. legislators grilled leaders of Google and other major technology companies Microsoft, Yahoo and Cisco about accommodating China's censorship demands.
Google defends its practices, saying despite the censorship, it still expands the amount of information available in China.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.