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    Half Tones

    Baidu Apologizes for Excessive Ads in Writer’s Search Results

    Sep 07, 2018

    China’s largest search engine, Baidu, has apologized after a famous writer lashed out over the paid advertisements that crowded her search results for the U.S. Consulate in Shanghai.

    On Thursday, the writer Zhang Xin — better-known by her pen name, Liu Liu — complained on Weibo about having to scroll through numerous visa and immigration service advertisements appearing at the top of her search for the consulate’s website. “Are you running a search engine, or are you the head of frauds?” wrote the irate writer to Baidu CEO Robin Li.

    Baidu apologized the same day and said it would remove all ads related to Zhang’s search. In 2016, the company was widely criticized when a college student with cancer died after receiving a controversial treatment at a hospital that had advertised on Baidu. (Image: IC)