The difference is that providing a censored service is better than no service. Android for example is a much more limited experience in China. Do you honestly not think a Chinese citizen would prefer having a limited Play Store than none at all? Chinese people don't go around searching about Tiananmen Square every day, and they would much rather have access to all the cat videos on Youtube than none at all.

Whereas the Maven project, there wasn't really a user benefiting.

This is not about what the Chinese or any other government is doing. It is about the decisions of Google and certain employees of Google.

Deciding to not join with others in the national defense is a very divisive and political decision.

Deciding to aid totalitarian governments with censorship and other activities is likewise divisive and political.

Deciding to back one major political party, but not the other - similarly divisive and political.

If they didn't want the criticism, they would just take the bucks and do the business for whoever is paying. They are at least giving the appearance of making these decisions on ideological grounds. This moves them more into the arena of being an political organization. In which case, saying you're just doing business is pretty lame.