Google on Friday formally rejected and criticized the US Justice Department’s subpoena to obtain search and user data from the search king. This may seem like old news but the company formally rebuffed the administration on its demand, arguing that it violated its users’ privacy, as well as for reasons of its own trade secrets.

At the same time, the company continues to bear the brunt of worldwide criticism for its self-censorship of search results in China, something the company maintains is necessary in order to comply with the country’s laws.

“Double standard” seems to be the oft repeated words, as the company scrambles to field countless attacks in the recent weeks from its inability to reach analysts’ expectations, a drop in its stock price and what seems to be countless other plaguing issues.

For its defense, however, Google insists that what it did was necessary in order to operate in China, whose rules are very different from that of the US, noting that there’s a difference and company had to obey the law of the land, and that there’s a difference between lawful refusal and doing something illegal.