Baidu, China's largest search giant has been accused by the state run media that it is allowing unlicensed medical providers to buy high search rankings. Baidu dominates the Chinese market with about 60% of the market; as a result of the information Baidu's stock tumbled on the Nasdaq.
Robin Li, Baidu's chief executive officer, told the state run media that many employees had been fired because of the incident and more layoffs may occur. We have removed the keywords of all four clients mentioned in the report and have begun to double-check the licenses of all other hospitals and pharmacies on our client list" he added.
Reports had risen that Baidu was posting results for medical care from facilities that were not licensed. Consumers that were steered toward the medical facilities were given medicine that they did not need and received services that were not required. Also, it was mentioned that legitimate medical facilities were omitted from results due to not paying for keyword searches, Baidu denied this claim.
One should always take into consideration when searching the internet for medical treatment that results may be skewed due to paid for searches and keywords. Always double check references and pay careful attention to any advice you may receive from any internet source.
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