Caxin：NGOs Complain to Gov't about 'False' Medical Ads on Baidu Forums

Patients' rights groups say flood of advertising promoting doubtful treatments has appeared on search giant's bulletin boards recently

By staff reporters Li Yan

(Beijing) – Three dozen patients' rights groups have asked the government to investigate Baidu Inc. over what they say are illegal ads on its forums.

In a letter to the State Administration of Industry and Commerce (SAIC) on January 14, the 36 non-governmental organizations demanded that all advertising on Baidu be halted until an investigation is done.

Groups including Hangzhou Yiyou Charity, which helps hepatitis B patients, turned to the government after Baidu was found selling the rights to run patient bulletin board forums to private hospitals.

People using the forums complained they quickly became littered with ads promoting substandard treatments.

A person close to Baidu told Caixin the company has sold the top 20 forums popular with certain patients to private hospitals since late December.

Baidu charged the hospitals at least 500,000 yuan for a forum, said the owner of one private hospital who bought one in January. He did not say which one he bought or how much he paid.

Baidu has not commented on the letter the NGOs sent to the government.

The uproar over the new ads prompted Baidu to announce on January 12 it will no longer let private firms run the forums. However, the owner of the private hospital said Baidu had not refunded his money and he may wait for the controversy to end to resume operating the bulletin board.

Lei Chuang, the founder of Hangzhou Yiyou Charity, said many ads touting substandard treatment can also be found on Baidu's platforms and mobile apps. He warned that patients who are duped into using these treatments not only lose money, but potentially the opportunity to receive timely treatment.

The NGOs said in their letter that an ad promising a cure for a disease called myasthenia, in which the body's muscles grow weak, can be found on Baidu's websites even though no known cure exists. They argued this is a violation of the Advertisement Law, which bans false promotions.

An amendment to the law last year provided for fining companies found guilty of false advertising an amount equal to five times what they spent on the ad.

Zhu Wei, a media law professor at the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing, said that if Baidu knows ads are false it should be held accountable.

"In the case of false promotions on its online forums, Baidu is certainly liable because it has sold them to private businesses for a profit," he said.

The SAIC said it would look into the NGOs' complaint. A spokesman for the commerce regulator also told Caixin that if the ads on Baidu's forums are found to be illegal it will be ordered to take them down.