Google's catchphrase "Don't be evil" appears to have been all but removed from its corporate code of conduct.

According to a report on the Gizmodo website, the company's code has been edited so "Don't be evil" appears only once. For example, a sentence that started "The Google Code of Conduct is one of the ways we put 'Don't be evil' into practice," has been rephrased to state: "The Google Code of Conduct is one of the ways we put Google's values into practice."

A whole paragraph relating to "Don't be evil" appears to have been deleted, Gizmodo's report stated, based on webpages archived by the Wayback Machine website.

"'Don't be evil.' Googlers generally apply those words to how we serve our users. But 'Don't be evil' is much more than that … it's also about doing the right thing more generally — following the law, acting honorably, and treating co-workers with courtesy and respect," is part of the paragraph that seems to have been removed.

The phrase does appear as the final line of the document. "And remember… don't be evil, and if you see something that you think isn't right – speak up!"