Baidu is considered by many as the Chinese version of Google. However, unlike Google, whose company motto is "don't do evil", Baidu seems to believe the capitalist principle of money at all cost. Recently a rumor that the esteemed professor of computer science at Stanford University, Prof. Andew Ng, is going to collaborate with Baidu, triggered this open letter from someone in China. It is an indirect reflection of the kind of company Baidu is.
The full text of the letter below.
Here is the text of the letter:
To: ang@cs.stanford.edu
Regarding your collaboration with Baidu
Professor Andrew,
Please forgive my rudeness in sending you this email, which was triggered by the rumor that you will be working with Baidu in China.
Baidu is one of the most - if not THE most - notorious IT company in China. Among many other things that are deemed unacceptable according to western standards, Baidu earns its fortune by promoting fraudulent medical information, at the cost of the health and even the lives of those who seek help through Baidu. In China, the majority of illegal drug manufacturers and illegal hospitals advertise on Baidu. In a case that was reported in 2010, Baidu seized 75% of the total revenue generated by an illegal drug manufacturer by promoting the illegal product through its search engine. As of today, many drugs that are explicitly banned by the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) are still on promotion on Baidu.
You are an esteemed figure in massive open online learning, among many other things. I was shocked that a person devoted to open education would collaborate with Baidu. No matter how much revenue a company can generate with what ever technology, promoting fraudulent medical information remains illegal and unethical, according to laws of any country and ethics standards of any human race.
Best regards,
I can personally testify what the letter says about Baidu is completely true. Baidu can even remove search results unfavorable to any product for a price, including those with fraudulent medical claims. On the other hand, if one searched for "Tiananmen tankman" on Baidu, one would get "according to local laws and regulations, the search results are not displayed". Google never censors its search results.