China issues new Internet rules on advertising after probe on search engine firm Baidu Inc. (Photo : Getty Images)
China has released a new set of rules covering advertising and search over the Internet following the probe on the complaint against Baidu’s promotion of a Chinese military hospital that led to a student’s death.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the Cyberspace Administration of China ordered all companies involved in online searching and marketing to give users "objective, fair and authoritative results."
This means that such firms are compelled by the CAC, which acts as the country's Internet regulatory body, to conduct verification steps to ensure that the advertiser's qualifications are legit and true, Bloomberg reported.
This news comes about six weeks after an investigation was launched on Baidu Inc. following the death of a 21-year-old Chinese college student who sought medical treatment from a military hospital that the company's online search engine deemed qualified for the procedure.
Probe on Baidu
According to Bloomberg, Baidu became subject of much criticism after the search engine reportedly misled college student Wei Zexi, a computer science major, to undergo an experimental treatment in a military hospital.
Wei died shortly after the procedure, but not before he was able to post over the social media his grievance about the wrong information Baidu allegedly gave him during his search.
Since then, Baidu has restricted sponsored posts to only 30 percent of the results and allotted 1 billion yuan or about $154 million in a fund to help fight fraud.
"We accept and support the investigation team's decision and will put these rectification requirements in place at the soonest," Baidu spokesperson Tracy Hu told Bloomberg in May. "We will continue to uphold extremely high standards to make our platform safe and trustworthy."
New Internet Rules
According to the CAC, the new rules urge online search companies to be responsible in posting and labeling their advertisements.
They should also be flagged clearly as such for Internet users to know that they have been paid for by a certain business and distinguished from the regular search results.
Overall, the new rules are aimed at upholding the safety of the country's citizens while maintaining the benefits of technological advances such as the Internet.
"Some search results include illegal contents like rumors, obscenity, violence, homicide and terror; some search results lack objectivity and fairness, which violates the corporate moral standards, misleads and affects public judgment," an unnamed CAC official told the WSJ.
Such posts "destruct Internet ecology, disturb the communication orders of Internet information and harm public interests," the source added.
